


You are my light

by kittykaty



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Elves, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 07:16:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14744360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittykaty/pseuds/kittykaty
Summary: The light elves' and moon elves' unity festival was around the corner – actually an event to look forward, but Sho dreaded it like nothing else. He, as the prince of the light elves, would have to bear with Nino, the prince of the moon elves, for three long days.However, the unity festival this year would bring a surprise that would change Sho's life – and Nino's too.





	You are my light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reveetoile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reveetoile/gifts).



> This story was written for this year's Sho-exchange on dw. My lovely recipient was reveetoile.  
> Loooots of thanks to my wonderful beta sky_fish7 <3
> 
> Please note: Since Aiba and Sho are brothers in this story, they share the same family name. That's why Aiba is called Masaki throughout the story.

The cold wind was tousling Sho's hair, cooling his heated cheeks while the trees around him turned into a big blur of different shades of green and brown. He could feel the hard muscles of his horse underneath his thighs, its white fur sweaty while it was carrying Sho safely over the forest paths.

Sho could spot the river they declared as their goal and patted the strong neck of his horse while he pressed his heels into its sides to urge it to speed up for the last meters.

He could already see the sunlight reflecting in the surface of the river, his elfish vision enabling him to see farther and more clearly. Sho leaned forward, pressing himself to his horse's neck to give the wind as little resistance as possible.

His horse was only a few meters away from the river when he saw a blur of white and brown colours passing him, a figure barely visible on the back of another horse. With a triumphant howl, the other man crossed the river without touching the water before forcing his animal to stop.

With a frustrated sigh, Sho sat up and indicated his horse to slow down as well. He let it wade through the shallow water of the river before he joined the man on the other side.

“I really thought, I'll win this time,” Sho stated when he slipped down from his horse, caressing the white, sweaty fur to indicate his animal that he wasn't angry at it.

“It was hard to catch up with you this time, but when you're only having the goal in front of your eyes, you get careless and forget about your opponent,” the man playfully scolded him.

“Always pointing out the other's weakness without holding back,” Sho said, laying his hand on his chest in a theatrical gesture.

“Because I want to make you stronger, my dear brother,” the man answered, throwing his arm around Sho's shoulder.

“I know and I am really grateful, Masaki,” Sho nodded and turned his head to grin at his brother.

They smiled at each other before they flopped themselves down on the soft grass, leaving the horses to themselves, knowing that they would come back whenever they'd call for them.

“It's so quiet here,” Sho sighed happily, laying his arm over his eyes while he listened to the distinctive sounds of the forest.

The air was still cool and the nature around them was only awakening from its long winter sleep, but neither Sho nor Masaki did mind the cold at all. They loved what every season had to offer and could adapt easily to their surroundings.

“Hmmm...,” Masaki just hummed in agreement. He had his eyes closed and was enjoying the few warm sun rays that were making their way through the leaves.

The two men stayed like this for a while, their pointed ears only taking in the soft gargling of the little river next to them. Once in a while they could hear rustling, probably caused by one of the many animals that were inhabiting the forest. Sho could even see an eagle sitting in one of the trees, looking down on them. He tried to remember if he had ever seen this majestic animal in a forest before, but was interrupted by his brother's giggling.

A rabbit dared to come closer to the two, sniffing on Masaki's fingers. He gently ruffled the animal's soft fur and after a while the rabbit laid down next to Masaki, completely relaxed. A small bird came flying down from a branch, nestling itself in Aiba's light brown hair and a salamander used the man's chest as a place to take a nap.

Sho smiled seeing his brother being occupied by all these animals. It had always been like that. Animals simply loved his brother and Masaki loved them back. So, in the end, it was only natural that the man became a doctor for all kinds of animals in the realm. Even their father, the king of the land, did not show any opposition at all, but was proud about his younger son's work, bragging about it wherever he went.

After all, he already had a heir – Sho. He was the oldest son and therefore designated for the throne. Masaki had once told Sho that he was terribly thankful to be the second son as he would have hated to think about politics and ruling their land.

Sho, on the other hand, didn't mind being the successor. He enjoyed thinking about new ways to rule their country. Discussing ideas and strategies with his father and their counsellors was a challenging but delightful event for him that he was looking forward to every day.

Though he disliked the formal events where he had to appear as the successor in his white robes, making sure to appear mighty and trustworthy to secure his entitlement to the throne.

Suddenly, Sho groaned, breaking the silence. Several pairs of eyes turned towards him, the big brown ones of his brother being the most prominent ones.

“What's wrong?”, Masaki asked and patted the salamander on his chest to reassure it that everything was fine.

“I just remembered that tomorrow we'll have guests...,” Sho sighed, his body cringing at the simple thought of it.

“Ahh... the moon elves,” his brother said and propped himself on his elbows, not before gently placing the salamander on the grass and picking the bird softly out of his hair.

Sho groaned again and Masaki laughed about his unhappy expression.

“Come on, they're not that bad,” Aiba tried to lift his brother's mood.

“They are!” Sho gave back, mimicking a pouting child.

Masaki finally sat up properly and after pulling the rabbit on his lap, he looked up to Sho, an earnest expression on his face.

“You, as the successor of Hikaria, should behave extraordinarily nice when coming in touch with them,” he began to lecture his older brother.

“I know,” Sho moaned and rubbed his face.

Masaki was absolutely right. It was really important that he behaved welcoming and non-judgemental towards their guests tomorrow. After all, they belonged to the same race.

Sho and his brother, just as everyone in their country, were light elves. They enjoyed the sunlight more than anything else, their heart was pure and they were loved by everyone. Light elves were always living in harmony with each other and with the nature, treasuring what was given to them by the universe. Their overall attitude to life was positive and their actions were based on love.

These characteristics were uniting all of the light elves, though every single one was carrying their own talent. Masaki for example was able to let a room or a place appear much lighter when he entered it. His wife, Satomi, on the other hand, seemed to bring a gentle warmth with her, making people feel relaxed whenever she appeared.

Sho's talent wasn't that obvious, so it costed him most of his life to figure out what it was exactly. Only recently, he received a hint from his father who told him that not only the simple presence of a person could bring light into people's heart but also words and that was when Sho finally understood that he was able to give others hope with what he was saying. Ever since he was choosing his words even more carefully than before, wishing to bring light into the hearts of everyone with them.

With these talents of the light elves, the atmosphere on the royal court was always warm and positive. Sho loved to be there, not having to worry much. However, the visit of the moon elves was something to worry about.

Moon elves were light elves as well, but belonged to a different folk. Although the moon was shining in the night, it was actually the light of the sun that caused its glow. Therefore, moon elves carried the same basic traits like their respect for nature or their love for each other. However, since the moon was somehow connected to the night, sometimes, their attitude was more negative. There was also the risk that they would loose themselves completely to their dark side, turning into demons, as Sho had heard.

It wasn't easy to interact with the moon elves as you always had to be careful of what you were saying in their presence because they might (want to) misunderstand you.

The constant caution in dealing with the moon elves had separated the two groups over the years so that the moon elves even established their own kind of monarchy, founding their own royal court a bit distant from the light elf's castle. The king of the light elves had accepted this decision, not fighting against the new king as long as they did not betray his fairness and didn't cause any problems to the light elves. Over centuries, they had lived next to each other without any conflicts, but lately, problems were arising.

Although the king of the moon elves showed no interest in becoming an independent monarchy, his folk was convinced that this would be the best way to go on. For the past years, small groups of moon elves tried to fight for their believes, resulting in attacks against light elves living close to the realm of the moon elves.

While the king of the moon elves had his hands full with calming his folk and arresting the self-declared rebels, the resentment against the moon elves among the folk of the light elves grew bigger and bigger every day and it probably was only a matter of time until the situation would erupt in a fight that could not be stopped anymore.

To show that both monarchies were getting along nicely, the the two folks used to held the unity festival twice a year, always during the equinox. The festival was held at the court of the light elves during the spring equinox while it took place at the moon elves' court during the autumn equinox. Since winter was turning into spring right now, the light elves were preparing for the festival since days.

Everyone was invited to the festival and to celebrate with the intention to mix the different groups of elves. Most of them were coming for the food though, but sometimes Sho could see light elves chatting or even dancing with moon elves which always lifted his spirit and his hope.

Actually, Sho liked the king of the moon elves. He was a surprisingly entertaining man, maybe sometimes with a weird sense of humour, but Sho was able to adapt to nearly everyone. Also his wife was beautiful and had a good understanding of other elves' feelings. The actual problem was their son...

“You will survive,” Masaki interrupted his thoughts and patted his shoulder. “He will be gone after three days again.”

Of course, Masaki knew about Sho's dislikes for the prince of the moon elves although he didn't share the aversion. He always got along nicely with Nino.

“He will stay by my side for the whole three days only to get on my nerves,” Sho whined, causing his brother to laugh.

“Maybe he likes you,” Masaki gave back, trying to hide his giggles when Sho shot him angry looks.

“I already told you. He only wants to provoke me,” the light elves' successor exclaimed. “Do you remember that one time when he ate the last piece of cake? MY FAVOURITE CAKE!”

“You're still holding that against him? That was years ago,” Masaki replied and put the rabbit on the grass again, caressing the silky fur behind its ears one last time before he stood up, whistling a special melody to call for their horses.

“I wouldn't be angry if he ate it because he liked the cake as well,” Sho gave back and finally got onto his feet as well. “But Nino doesn't even eat cake AT ALL!”

“For someone you don't like you know quite a lot about him,” Masaki grinned and quickly got onto his horse before his brother could reach out to hit him.

Sho decided to ignore his brother's teasing and climbed on his horse as well. He couldn't avoid meeting Nino anyway, so he should come to terms with it, preferably quick. As Masaki had said, it was only for three days, right?!

~ ~ ~

“Look, Kazu, the castle!”

Nino's mother was pointing at something lying ahead of them and the young man looked up, focusing on the huge building that was beaming in the sunlight – so brightly that Nino had to shield his eyes.

“It's so beautiful,” he heard his mother sighing and although he would never say it out loud, he secretly agreed.

He had always liked the white castle of the light elves. It was so bright and shining, its image reflecting in the lake on which shores it was standing. The sparkling water only added to the brightness surrounding the castle and Nino couldn't help but gasp when he saw a white swan landing gracefully on the water, interrupting the perfect reflection for a few seconds until the waves calmed again.

Nino's horse suddenly seemed to speed up as if it was magically attracted to the white building as well. Or, Nino thought, it might also have sensed Masaki's presence, wanting to meet him again.

Ever since Masaki had rescued Nino's horse, the animal was crazy for the man, sensing his presence over kilometres. Nino didn't mind his horse's admiration. He was also deeply thankful to the younger prince of the light elves for saving his horse when everyone already gave up on it.

Actually, he had always gotten along nicely with Masaki who was always full of smiles and warmth, and when he married Satomi, the daughter of a nobleman, everyone, including Nino, thought they were the perfect match. Whenever they appeared together, the room became brighter and warmer, making everyone inside feel relaxed, forgetting their troubles and simply enjoying to be alive. Nino had heard that this was one of the special talents light elves could have and honestly, he wished moon elves would carry such traits as well.

It was not the case that Nino didn't like being a moon elf – he did. He liked that they didn't have to be cheerful and all smiling the whole time, because this would exhaust him just too much. Nino loved being moody once in a while, knowing that he would feel better afterwards. Nevertheless, he sometimes wished that the moon elves' court would be a little brighter and more carefree. Maybe, this would have soothed his troubled mind a bit...

Nino's thoughts were interrupted by a loud fanfare, announcing their arrival. He didn't realize that they were already inside of the court yard.

As always, he was in awe with the architecture of it. The whole yard was covered with a glass roof, so that the blue sky was still visible. Since the roof was carried by only white pillars, the fresh air could blow through the wide yard freely, always providing enough fresh air to not feel suffocated.

Furthermore, the whole yard was full with white, glowing balls in every size. Their light was warm and relaxing. They were floating around the yard as well as inside of the castle, but as soon as they would be brought outside the castle walls, their light would fade until it finally went out (Nino had to learn this when he and Masaki once tried to smuggle one of the balls outside for Nino to take home).

Nino knew from the last years that the festival would take place in the yard, the balls spending enough light to go on celebrating till late into the night while the see-through roof allowed them to celebrate at any weather as it would keep the guests dry.

When he directed his eyes down again, Nino could see the royal family of the light elves standing in the middle of the yard, ready to welcome them.

The king and the queen were standing in the middle, their son's on both sides. Masaki was holding hands with his wife, beaming at Nino, obviously happy to see him. His seven year old kids were standing in front of the couple, both looking alike as they were twins. Nino knew them ever since they were born and he was sure that he never met more adorable kids. The twins were crawling Masaki's winged dog behind its ears, who, as always, was part of the welcoming committee.

The two were radiating sunlight and warmth, obviously inheriting these talents from their parents, so that everyone ended up calling them “little suns”. Still, they both had a slightly cheeky side that Nino liked a lot. He always wondered from which one of their parents they got this...

Then, Nino spotted the king's oldest son, the successor of the light elves. He was standing next to his mother, his eyes focusing on the royal family of the moon elves. However, Nino quickly noticed, that Sho was not looking at him.

Nino grinned. He knew very well that the light elves' successor wasn't his biggest fan. Nino personally thought that Sho could relax a bit more – he was always quite serious, his appearance flawless. Well, probably this wasn't a bad trait considering his future role, but Nino, being a successor himself, had never cared about such qualities. He was convinced that a folk needed a fair and assertive king with the ability to make logical decisions, but also someone who could lift the mood and was not too fixated on looking perfect the whole day.

Still he didn't hold a grudge against Sho or anything. It was just that it was so easy to tease him that Nino couldn't stop himself. He surely would have a lot of fun again, for the next three days.

When the moon elves reached the middle of the yard, they got down from their horses to offer their greetings to the light elves. Nino was pulled in a hug by Masaki and Satomi pecked his cheek as if he belonged to their family. Their twins were immediately screwing the promise to play hide and seek from Nino which he granted them meekly.

He was welcomed respectfully by the king and queen of the light elves and Masaki and Sho's mother complimented him on what a fine grown-up man he had become (she did so every year and it always ended in a long, embarrassing chat between the two queens on how fast children grew up and how cute they had been when they were still toddlers).

Then it was Sho's turn to welcome Nino to their court and he did so, polite and attentively as always, though Nino could see the slight twitching of the corners of his mouth when Sho said that he had been looking forward to their meeting.

“I have been waiting for this festival ever since the last one stopped,” Nino shouted, smiling at Sho like an idiot. “There are still so many things I want to talk to you about – you know, from successor to successor, so I intend to make the most out of these three days.”

Sho pressed his lips together and his eyes narrowed, but before he could reply anything, their fathers interfered.

“What a great idea, Kazu,” the king of the moon elves said. “I am sure you can learn a lot from Sho!”

Sho's father patted his son's shoulder proudly. “I think this will be a giving and taking for both sides. Nino is quite knowledgeable as well, especially in the field of entertaining people and Sho could do with a little bit more of such talents...”

The fathers looked happily at their sons and Nino threw his arm around Sho's shoulder.

“We'll make sure to spend as much time together as possible, right Sho?!” he smiled.

The successor of the light elves simply managed a quick nod and when their fathers turned their attention to the others again, Sho immediately pushed Nino's arm away, throwing him a death glare.

Nino just grinned. Yes! The next three days would be so much fun!

~ ~ ~  
Sho rubbed his face and groaned.

It was the first time in the last days that he was finally alone (except for his sleeping hours but even then Nino had haunted him in his dreams). The moon elves' successor had been overly persistent. As promised, he had not left Sho's side, telling each and everyone who asked (and even those who didn't ask) that he was looking up to Sho and wanted to learn everything from him.

Moon elves as well as light elves were delighted about “how well” these two successors were getting along, because most of the guests were hoping for an end of the fight between the two folks.

Sho, being the diligent successor he was, put a good face on the matter although he was boiling inside. He realized that he preferred the sharp-tongued Nino way more than the one who was acting all friendly – because Sho was convinced that Nino was putting on an act. Why should the moon elves' prince suddenly come to like him after he had teased him for over a decade?

Having Nino by his side, pretending to like him, had drained Sho and cost much of his energy. He was looking forward to the next day, when the festival would be over and the moon elves, including Nino, would leave their court and routine would finally return to his life.

Some minutes earlier, Nino had vanished to somewhere. Sho had the feeling that Nino had spotted someone among the guests that he was not keen to meet, but he didn't ask not stop the moon elf when he had ran away as he was more than thankful for a few minutes without him by his side.

Sho had been ordered by his father to check the throne room once again where the final official ceremony of the festival would begin in a few minutes.

The king of the moon elves would hand over the sceptre of the light which contained joined forces of the moon elves and the light elves. The light elves would take care of this powerful sceptre during spring and summer and would bring it back to the moon elves for the festival in autumn.

Sharing this magical tool equally should symbolize the wish to stay united, to be one folk that lives in peace – that's what the two kings were intending with this ceremony and indeed, the fights would become less after the festivals each time for several weeks.

When Sho opened the doors of the throne room, he could see that the servants did an amazing job. The room was decorated with hundreds, no, thousands of white flowers that let the room appear even brighter than it already was. Lots of glowing balls were floating under the crystalline roof, bathing the room in their warm light.

The windows were slightly opened, letting the breeze inside, refreshing the air with a hint of a grassy smell. The sunlight was refracted in the little canals that were running through the whole room, pooling in one big basin in the middle.

Sho let out a relieved sigh when he saw the pillow with the sceptre lying on a pillar standing inside the basin. Using their joint magic, the two kings would walk over the water towards the pillar later on and bring the sceptre safely towards the waiting princes.

Today, Nino would take it from the two kings and hand it over to Sho so that it could stay with the light elves for the next six months. Half a year later, it would be Sho who'd take the sceptre from the two kings and give it to Nino, so it would stay in the possession of the moon elves again.

Sho really liked the meaning of this act. The kings could only walk over the water if they joined their forces. It was a symbol for the unison of the light elves and moon elves. Involving the successors of the folks in the ceremony also showed that they wanted to continue their peaceful way of living together in the next generation as well.

The only thing that Sho didn't like about the ceremony was that he had to do it together with Nino, and since the moon elf was the successor, they would one day have to carry out the central part of the ceremony together as well. Why couldn't the moon elves' king have a more calm son?

Suddenly, something moved on Sho's left side. Alarmed, he turned around, his hand reaching for his sword. It was the weapon that was required to be worn during the ceremony as part of their traditional outfit and Sho had already put it on. When he recognised the person, he released the breath he was holding, but did not take his hand off the grip of his sword.

“What are you doing here?” Sho asked, his eyes narrowed.

Nino held up his hands in defence.

“I needed a break from you, obviously,” he gave back with a smug grin.

Sho snorted.

“You need a break from me? As far as I remember, YOU were the one clinging to my side for the last days,” he stated, but finally took his hand away from his weapon.

Nino slowly walked towards Sho, hands in his pockets.

“I'm only being a good son, wishing to make my daddy happy,” he explained and leaned onto a pillar that was only a few steps away from Sho. “Did you think I really admire you so much?” he added and laughed.

Sho clenched his teeth. Of course he knew that Nino was acting only to provoke him and he told himself not to do Nino the favour and explode, so he took a few deep breaths, feeling his blood calming down again before he answered.

“Of course I was aware of your acting, but I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your parents so I joined your little act.”

If Nino was disappointed that Sho was still calm he didn't show it. Instead, he finally closed the gap and took Sho's hand.

“I really appreciate your effort,” he said, shaking the light elf's hand. “But we really have to work on your performance!”

Sho forcefully pulled his hand out of Nino's grip.

“I think my performance was well done!” he gave back, eyes narrowed.

“I'm sorry to disappoint you, but acting is not your strength,” the moon elf commented dryly and Sho clenched his fist. “From what I've seen, dancing is also not your talent,” Nino went on pointing out Sho's weak points. “And your shoulders... well, there is nothing we can do about that!”

While listing Sho's disadvantages, Nino had stepped back a bit and was leaning on the pillar again, his arms crossed in front of his chest, a grin on his lips.

Sho bit his tongue and once more, he forced his anger down. There was no use in screaming or even getting violent, but he was taller and definitely stronger than Nino, so a little threat would maybe clarify who would be the bigger authority.

Slowly, he walked towards Nino, his hand already on the grip of his sword again.

“You're pretty good with your mouth, but are you –”

Sho couldn't go on because at that moment many things happened at once.

First of all, he slipped in a little puddle of water, probably left behind by the servants who prepared the room. While searching for something to hold on, he reached out for Nino who wasn't prepared either, so both crashed against the pillar, Nino's head bumping against it with a thud.

At the same moment, the door of the throne room opened and the crowd of light elves and moon elves with their respective royal families in front entered.

There were a few seconds of silence, the elves taking in the picture that was on portray.

The prince of the light elves was pushing the prince of the moon elves against a pillar while Nino was clutching onto Sho's vest. Their lips were tightly pressed together.

Quickly, both separated from each other, looking at the crowd in horror, that suddenly erupted into cheers. The kings were shaking each other's hands while the two queens were sniffling into their handkerchiefs.

“Sho-chan, you really could have told me!” the prince heard his brother screaming over the masses.

Sho took another step backwards to bring as much space between himself and Nino as possible.

“No, no, you're getting this all wrong,” he immediately tried to talk logic into the people's heads.

“It's fine, Sho,” his mother interrupted him though. “We were kind of expecting that.”

“What?” Sho screamed, not able to follow. “There is nothing between us,” he then tried again, but his father waved him off.

“We are actually really delighted about this. It might reunite our folks again,” the king said, while the moon elf's king nodded excitedly, smiling at his son.

Sho turned around to Nino as well, hoping for some support from him, but when he saw Nino's face frozen in shock, he had to realize that he could not count on the usual very intact mouth of the moon elf, right now.

However, he would not give up so easily. Sho was determined to resolve this problem here and now. Therefore, he grabbed Nino's hand and pulled the moon elf with him towards the royal families to explain their situation properly.

~ ~ ~

Masaki shuffled under his blanket and turned around to the woman that always made his heart beat faster. Her soft locks were flowing over the pillow while she was holding a book in her hands, the light from the night stand falling onto the pages.

He pressed his lips together, keeping silent although something was bothering him. However, he knew that his wife treasured the silent minutes in the evening when their kids were finally sleeping in their own bedrooms and she could indulge in her books.

He tried to lay as still as possible, not disturbing his wife while his thoughts were running wild.

With a sigh, Satomi closed her book, putting it on the night stand before she laid back on her pillow, reaching out for Masaki's hand.

“It's alright,” she said and Masaki intertwined their fingers.

“Is it really?” he asked, letting his free hand run through his hair. “After all, we forced him into a relationship...”

Satomi pulled on Aiba's hand, forcing him to scoot closer.

“Technically it wasn't us, but your parents siding with Nino's parents. And I am sure that Sho will come to like his situation soon,” she said with a light chuckle.

“WE know that but I wonder if Sho will be able to see that as well,” Masaki gave back with a frustrated sigh. Sometimes, his brother was an emotional iceberg, especially when it came to his own feelings.

“We can help him realize it,” the woman next to him assured her husband, who nodded.

“We just have to make sure we continue doing it subtly. If he ever finds out that I am meddling with his love life, I'm done,” Masaki stated and Satomi had to agree with that.

“But you were amazing today when you apologised for not helping him properly to set things right with tears glistening in your eyes,” she giggled.

“Sho was always weak to me crying, so he forgave me quickly,” Aiba grinned.

“You know, I really love this cheeky side of yours,” Satomi purred and snuggled closer to her husband.

Aiba let out a knowing hum before he rolled on top of his wife, his arms to both sides of her head.

“Want me to show you HOW cheeky I can become?” he asked her, licking his lips. Her little nod was assurance enough, so Aiba dived down to capture her lips while he let one of his hands wander under the blanket.

~ ~ ~

Several rooms further down the corridor, things weren't as harmonic.

Sho was standing in his room, his arms crossed in front of his chest, watching Nino unpacking his bag, spreading his belongings all over Sho's perfectly clean floor.

“Can you stop polluting my room with your stuff?” Sho asked between clenched teeth. He was in a bad mood – a terribly bad mood and the fact that Nino was currently making a mess in his room didn't really help to lift it.

“Your father said I should feel like home,” Nino gave back and went on rummaging.

“Right, and this would have been the best moment to tell him that all of this was a big misunderstanding and we're far from being a couple,” Sho spat, kicking one of Nino's socks closer back to the man.

“As far as I remember you already told him five times by then and he didn't seem convinced, so it would have gotten us nowhere if I said it too,” Nino defended himself.

“Of course it would have made a difference!” Sho shouted. “Because they simply thought you were too shy to say something about this which only made them even more secure in their terribly wrong assumption.”

“I know my parents. If they decided on something, nobody will manage to change their mind,” the moon elf said and finally turned around.

Sho couldn't believe that Nino gave up so quickly. It didn't seem like something the moon elf would do, but somehow, ever since Nino ran off, he seemed to be in a weird mood. Still, Sho simply couldn't let it go.

“You could have tried it at least...,” he began, but was interrupted by Nino who had suddenly come to his feet, his face dangerously close to Sho's.

“Don't think that I like to be here with you,” he hissed, his eyes narrowed. “I will have to spend the next weeks here in this bright castle that is blinding my eyes while my family and everyone I know is far away from me.”

Sho gulped. Nino was kind of right. He hadn't spent a single minute thinking about how Nino might feel, as he had only been pitying himself the whole time. But the moon elf had a point. Sho could at least stay at the place he was used to, being surrounded by the ones he loved and cared for. Nino was all alone here, having to put on an act the whole time after their parents decided that they could not separate the sweet couple.

“I'm sorry,” Sho mumbled and Nino stepped back a little bit, his lips still pressed together though. “But there must be something we can do about it.”

“For now, we just have to cope with it until we come up with a good plan,” Nino said, reaching out for a book from his bag. “Which means...,” he continued and threw Sho a smug look, “you have to get better at your acting!”

The soft feeling of empathy, that Sho just had for Nino immediately vanished into thin air upon hearing this, and he bit his tongue in order to calm down again.

“True. And therefore I need to rest well, so good night!”

With this, Sho switched off the light, well aware of Nino's intention to read, but he couldn't care less. Moon elves were able to see in the dark anyway – that's what he heard, at least.

He could hear, Nino making his way through the room, finally settling on Sho's sofa. Fine, if Nino wanted to sleep there, he should. Sho would not invite him to his bed although he knew that it was way more comfortable.

With a pout, that nobody could see anyway, Sho pulled the blanket over himself. He was so busy making a list in his head why he didn't like Nino, that he did not see the eagle that was just about to leave his place on the branch in front of the window.

~ ~ ~

When Sho saw Nino hugging his mother to say good bye, he felt his guilt bubbling up again. In a few minutes, Nino would be all alone, in this unknown surroundings, having to act as if he was in love with someone he didn't get along with.

The royal family of the light elves and the court had assembled in the yard again to see the moon elves off. hey would only see each other half a year later, to the autumn equinox.

Nino, however, had been among the light elves, watching his loved ones packing the last presents and getting on their horses. At least, Nino's horse was brought to the light elves' stables. It would stay as well. However, except for a few moon elves that were living in the light elves' castle as advisers, Nino would be the only one from his folk here.

Judging all of these circumstances, Sho acknowledged Nino's calmness. The moon elf might have his bratty moments but when it was needed, he could behave spot on, mimicking the love-struck elf that was looking forward to stay with his boyfriend. Still, Sho wondered how Nino was feeling right now. Judging his little outburst yesterday, he must be pretty upset...

“So, how was your first night together?”

Sho's thoughts were interrupted by his brother who grinned at him. Instead of answering Sho decided to ignore Masaki. However, he should have known his brother better who would not give up simply because Sho was showing him the cold shoulder.

“Was it so good that you're speechless?” Masaki went on and threw his brother a failed wink.

Grinding his teeth, Sho turned towards his brother.

“Don't try me, Masaki,” he whispered, but his brother ignored the hidden threat.

“I'm sure it wasn't that bad,” he said soothingly.

“No,” Sho gave back and Aiba's eyes already began to sparkle. “It wasn't bad.”

“See!” Sho's brother nodded enthusiastic.

“It was the worst!” the light elves' successor stated clearly and his brother's mouth formed to a big “Oh”.

However, Masaki regained his composure quickly.

“It isn't easy for him either, I think. He has to say goodbye to his family and stay here with us,” he defended the moon elf, but was basically only voicing Sho's own thoughts.

Therefore, Sho just hummed, but apparently, his brother wasn't satisfied with this.

“Go to him and comfort him,” Masaki said, nudging Sho with his elbow. “You're his boyfriend!”

“I'm NOT his boyfriend,” Sho hissed, but did as he was told.

When he reached Nino, the moon elves were already making their way towards the gate. Sho put his arms around the moon elf's waist, pulling him a bit closer.

He could feel a little resistance at first, but then Nino gave into the closeness and even leaned against Sho's firm chest.

While the moon elves were disappearing one by one, Sho rubbed his thumb soothingly over Nino's belly who let it pass without saying anything.

When the last moon elf had vanished around the corner, Nino finally turned around in Sho's embrace.

“Nice acting,” he whispered into Sho's ear before he pecked the light elf's cheek.

“I told you I am not such a bad actor,” Sho gave back, prolonging their embrace for a bit.

“I cannot wait to see your best performance,” Nino replied, tucking a strand of hair behind Sho's ear.

“I'll soon show you,” Sho promised, a light growl in his voice.

They separated again and Sho took Nino's hand while they made their way back into the castle, following the other light elves.

After a quick side glance at Nino, Sho could see that although the moon elf had tried to be as cheeky as always, was quite affected by the departure of his family, so Sho decided that he would try to be a bit nicer to Nino for the next days.

~ ~ ~

Sho had indeed given his best to be attentive towards Nino, but it hadn't been easy at all. The moon elf used their little private moments to mock Sho about his “acting”, bringing him close to the verge of exploding each time.

So, when his father sent him on a two-days trip due to a governmental business, he had cheered inside, glad about the forced “Nino-break”.

That's why he couldn't really explain to himself why he was actually looking forward to come back, since he had to face Nino's mocking again.

When Sho rode through the gate inside the yard, he heard the twins giggling. The happy laughter caused him to smile as well. Apparently, the kids had inherited his brother's positive attitude about life that was overly infectious when one was close to them.

He brought his horse into the stable, patting Taro's nose while passing it (apparently, Nino's horse liked him way more than its owner), before he went to look for his nephew and niece.

He found them in the royal garden. However, since he had expected either their mum or dad with them, Sho was surprised to see Nino sitting in front of the two, his back turned towards the newcomer.

“Uncle Sho~,” the twins shouted happily and jumped up to run towards their family member. Also, Nino turned around.

“Welcome home!” the moon elf said with a smile on his face and Sho suddenly felt a cosy warmth spreading in his chest.

“I'm back!” he replied before he was overrun by his brother's kids that hugged him around his waist.

Sho never understood what he had done to deserve their love as the two were really fond of their uncle (he suspected Masaki to have made sure that his kids would love their uncle as much as he liked his brother), but he was overly grateful to his brother for including him in his little family as well.

With two kids around his waist, Sho awkwardly walked towards Nino to check what they were doing until his arrival.

“Uncle Nino was teaching us some magic tricks,” Toma explained as if he read Sho's thoughts.

”Uncle?” Sho mouthed into Nino's direction, but the moon elf just shrugged.

“Since he is your boyfriend, he is kind of an uncle to us too,” Keiko explained and Sho was once more surprised how much this little girl was catching from her surroundings. She definitely inherited this trait from her mother.

“I see,” the man just laughed, not wanting to go deeper into this matter.

“Do you want me to show you a magical trick?” Toma changed the topic and Sho nodded.

The boy asked him to kneel down and after a bit of fumbling, he produced a flower from behind Sho's ear. The prince of the light eves' praised him, earning a content expression from his nephew before he handed the flower over to Nino, who took it with a smile.

Suddenly, Sho felt the twins looking at them. He turned around only to meet two pairs of really thoughtful eyes.

“Don't you want to give uncle Nino something else?” Keiko asked, her head crooked to one side.

“And what would that be?”, Sho asked, having no clue what she was talking about.

“An “I'm back” kiss,” she enlightened him and Sho's eyes grew big.

“Daddy always gives mommy a kiss when he comes back from one of his business trips,” Toma explained in a serious tone.

“But I have only been away for two days,” Sho interjected, trying to get himself out of the situation.

“To daddy it doesn't matter how long he has been away. He even kisses mommy when he had only been away for an hour,” Keiko provided and looked expectantly at her uncle.

Feeling kind of under pressure, Sho turned around to Nino who was looking at him with a blank expression. Suppressing a little sigh, the light elf put his hand on Nino's waist and pecked the moon elf's cheek.

However, he could hear the twins clicking their tongues.

“That was not an “I'm back” kiss”, Toma scolded his uncle. “You have to kiss him on the lips.”

“Daddy always does that with mommy,” Keiko added, nodding her little head.

Slightly annoyed by the persistence of the twins, Sho turned towards them.

“You know, every couple handles this slightly dif-,”

Before he could go on though, his lips were sealed by Nino's who had leaned over and kissed him the way the twins were demanding.

It was a short kiss, but it set Sho's insides on fire, feeling as if lots of butterflies had suddenly started their flight. He quickly decided that it was the shock about the sudden turn of events that caused this feeling.

“Don't destroy their beliefs,” Nino whispered when their lips were not joined anymore. Sho could see a light touch of pink on the moon elf's cheeks but before his thoughts could linger longer on this fact, Toma's voice cut through the air.

“Look, an eagle!” he shouted and pointed at the animal that had just set off and was now flying towards the woods.

“It's big!” Keiko added and four pair of eyes followed the majestic bird.

Sho felt as if he had seen that bird before somewhere, especially since these animals were really rare these days...

“Keiko, let's go and show mommy and daddy our new magical tricks,” Toma called on his sister, who nodded and a few seconds later, the two kids were running towards the garden's exit.

“They definitely inherited their attention span from Masaki,” Nino remarked dryly and Sho couldn't help but laugh whole-heartedly.

Then, he realized that he was still pretty close to Nino, his hands on the moon elf's hips. Basically, standing close like this was nothing new for them. They did so several times in front of Sho's parents or the court, but now, since their audience had vanished, there was no need anymore to stay close like this.

With a sheepish grin, Sho carefully loosened the embrace and stepped back.

“So?” Nino said dryly. “That was our first real kiss, right?”

While Sho felt his cheeks heating up, he nodded. Until now, they had only pecked each other on their cheeks which seemed to have satisfied the light elves of the king's court.

“But seriously,” Nino started, throwing a disapproving look at the light elf, “We have to work on that.”

Gasping, Sho looked at the moon elf.

“You getting all stiff when someone kisses you doesn't make you look overly in love,” Nino went on judging Sho's “performance”. “We were lucky that it was only in front of the kids, but woman, especially your mum I dare to say, would immediately realize our farce.”

Sho could feel the anger bubbling up again. He could cope with Nino criticizing his acting skills, but not his kissing techniques – he had his pride too.

“I am very much capable of kissing someone properly,” he gave back between gritted teeth.

“Oh, yeah?” Nino raised an eyebrow.

Not being able to let someone hurt his pride, Sho's brain demanded clarification and so, he grabbed Nino by his waist in a swift movement and held him at the nape of his neck, before he joined their lips for the second time.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was way more intense and the tingling inside of Sho's stomach started again.

He let go of Nino, not before rubbing over the man's wet lips with his thumb.

The moon elf was the first to speak.

“Better,” he stated dryly. “Not breathtaking thought, I prefer it a little less aggressive.”

With this, Nino turned around and left Sho who suppressed a frustrated groan. His brain was currently figuring out if he was annoyed or confused because even though Nino had teased him again, his insides didn't stop tingling.

Since he was too busy with himself, Sho didn't see his brother hiding behind the pillar, high-fifing his twins while all three of them were trying hard to suppress their giggles.

~ ~ ~

“Wake up, sleepyhead, it's your mum's birthday today!”

Sho was pulled out of his dreams harshly by someone tugging on his duvet. Sleepily, he opened one of his eyes, only to see Nino standing beside his bed, looking down on him impatiently.

Actually, it had become kind of a habit that Nino was waking him up in the mornings. The moon elf either didn't need sleep or was a morning person (Sho hadn't figured out completely yet). In any way, Sho didn't mind being woken by him although sometimes it lacked some delicacy.

He stretched and yawned before he slowly pushed away the blanket and rolled himself out of bed. Sho was pretty well aware that Nino was watching him closely, but he didn't care at all. Since Nino had moved into the castle, more precisely, into his room, they had seen each other in different states of mood, clothing and actions.

Sho learned that although Nino was able to make him explode in under ten seconds, he was actually pretty gentle towards others, especially the kids at the royal court. The moon elf was really attentive, so he could easily establish friendships with the light elves. Everyone was only saying good things about Nino and he was always welcome at every occasion.

The only one who was given a very ambiguous behaviour was Sho and it was beyond his knowledge why he got that special treatment.

Nino's acting was always spot on. He was looking at Sho with heart-shaped eyes whenever needed and didn't mind any closeness. His remarks and comments about their relationship were convincing although completely made up. If Sho wouldn't know better, he would sometimes even think by himself that he and Nino were in a relationship.

In the beginning, both used to stop behaving like a couple as soon as they were in Sho's room, but lately, the borders became more blurry. Unconsciously, they started to incorporate couple-like traits even when it was just the two of them – things like Nino waking up Sho in the mornings… and Sho had gotten used to that to an extent that if the moon elf wouldn't do it, he would surely miss it.

Sho kicked Nino's socks out of his way (another thing he had gotten used to) and gathered his clothes before vanishing into the bathroom.

While he got changed, he braced himself for a hectic day. His mother loved throwing parties and her birthday was the best reason to make it a very big one. He and Nino would be expected to be there till the very end, miming the love-struck couple to also convince the many guests about their relationship.

By now, they were used to each other, so they could actually pull it off, but Sho was worried that something might happen that would rise doubts about them.

~ ~ ~

Sho needed a rest.

His mother really knew how to throw a party. The atmosphere in the yard was cheerful, light elves and a few moon elves were enjoying the food as well as the music. Everyone was wearing a cheerful expression. Laughter and chatter was filling the air.

The light balls were glowing in different colours tonight, most of them assembled around the dance floor. The music was really inciting but Sho was not a big dancer and as of now he had managed to stay out of all the action on the dance floor.

His brother, though, was enjoying it to the fullest, showing off his awesome dancing skills. When he had been bored dancing all by himself because Satomi had been gone to bring their kids to bed, Masaki had grabbed Nino and forced him into one dance after another – though, when Sho was looking at his “boyfriend”, he got the feeling that the moon elf was actually enjoying it.

Masaki was a natural dancer, not thinking about his moves, his body was swaying to the music. But the longer Sho watched Nino, the more he had to realize that the moon elf possessed the talent to dance as well. His movements weren't as big and energetic as Masaki's but smoother, making him a pleasure to look at as well.

Sho knew that he was staring at Nino but he couldn't avert his eyes.

“He's good,” he suddenly heard a voice next to him.

Satomi sat down next to Sho, smiling at him.

Sho forced himself to tear his eyes away from Nino who was just dancing back to back with Masaki, both shaking their hips to the rhythm.

“Are the kids sleeping?” he asked his sister-in-law in order to avoid any further talk about Nino.

She nodded.

“They were insanely tired and as soon as I pulled the blanket over them, they were sleeping. Their daddy wore them out on the dance floor,” she laughed and Sho joined her.

“Indeed. Masaki is in his element today,” he agreed.

“He loves dancing,” Satomi stated.

“I think, Masaki got my share of dancing talent as well,” Sho pouted, causing the woman next to him to giggle.

“You can't be THAT bad,” she said and jumped to her feet. “Basically, it's just a matter of the right partner,” she said then and offered Sho her hand.

Grinning, Sho stood up and took it.

“In this case, I ask for your corporation.”

They walked onto the dance floor and began to move as well. Satomi was covering Sho's mistakes with grace and soon they were twirling over the dance floor easily.

“See? I told you!” Satomi laughed and Sho joined her.

“Thanks to you,” he nodded and let her spin around herself a few turns.

“I think, I am not the only one who can make you look good at dancing,” she gave back and pointed towards Nino who was spun around by Masaki.

“He is indeed good at dancing,” Sho admitted.

“You make a great pair, you two,” Satomi stated and gave Sho one of her warm smiles.

“Thanks. We are pulling off our best acting skills to make everyone think we're in love,” he gave back and sighed.

“Is it really that much acting?” Satomi asked and twirled around once more, leaving Sho a second to understand the hint in her question.

Before he could deny any implications though, the music suddenly changed. Instead of the cheerful, fast notes, slower, more intense music was filling the air.

Sho was touched on his shoulder and when he turned around, he saw his brother offering him Nino's hand.

“Do you mind if we change?” Masaki asked and threw his wife a failed wink.

“Of course not,” Sho answered quickly and let go of Satomi's hand who was scooped into her husband's arms a second later.

Sho was watching them moving in perfect synch while they made their way over the dance floor.

Suddenly, he felt arms around his neck and focused on the man in front of him.

“Put your hands around my waist,” Nino hissed and Sho realized that he had been standing pretty dumbfounded on the dance floor, so he quickly did as he was told.

While he carefully danced a few steps, Satomi's last words were repeating in his head. Of course it needed a lot of acting to make people believe he was in love with Nino. As if he would ever behave naturally like this with the moon elf...

Over the last minute, the music had become more intense, carrying a somewhat longing feeling with it. Sho had always loved music and the emotions it was able to convey, so he got easily swapped away with them.

Nino seemed to feel it too as he was tightening his grip around Sho's neck, pulling slightly closer. All Sho could feel was Nino's body heat and the softness of the moon elf's figure against his own.

Their surroundings started to blur and all Sho could see was Nino's face in front of his eyes, the cute nose, the thin, but well-shaped lips, the mole on his chin, his brown eyes, his soft hair falling into his face... Sho knew all of these parts of Nino only too well.

The music was reaching his climax, a powerful mix of several instruments, playing with all their might to enchant the dancers and listeners.

Sho felt his heart beating fast when Nino, just in this moment, looked up to him, his eyes full of warmth.

Overflowing with emotions, Sho leaned forward and placed his lips onto Nino's with precision.

It was their first real kiss after their encounter with Keiko and Toma in the garden and Sho strangely felt like coming home once more.

Nino's lips started moving against his and when he felt the moon elf trembling in his arms, Sho opened his lips for only a bit. Nino followed him suit and an overwhelming taste flooded into Sho's mouth that only made him longing for more.

He nibbled on Nino's fuller lower lip, its softness making Sho's stomach tingle pleasantly. The moon elf sucked the air in sharply through his nose and leaned even closer to Sho.

Then, the last notes of the music were played until it stopped. Applause for the musicians reached Sho's ear and pulled him out of his trance.

Realizing, what he was doing, he quickly ended the kiss and pulled apart from Nino. His cheeks were hot and most likely red while his heart was still beating like crazy.

Slowly, Sho could focus on his surroundings again. He saw Masaki showing him thumbs-up. Behind him, his mother was sniffling into her handkerchief.

When he focused back on Nino, the moon elf hadn't moved a single centimetre and Sho realized that he was still holding him close. Embarrassed, he quickly let go of the him and tried to look everywhere else but at Nino.

Most of the guests had witnessed their kiss, grinning at them now or whispering something into their conversational partners' ear. Sho had nothing to worry about their fake relationship at least. There was something else, that was confusing him.

“I'll… I'll go and get us something to drink,” he stuttered then before he escaped the dance floor.

He really needed to cool down. What happened just now threw him out of balance, because, and no matter how much Sho wanted to say that this was a lie, that kiss just now had not been an act at all...

~ ~ ~

About three months had passed since Nino started living at the light elves' palace.

It wasn't easy in the beginning because he was missing his family and friends and he needed to adapt to the new surroundings while, at the same time, he had to be careful that nobody found out that his relationship with Sho was actually fake.

However, he quickly managed to fit in and was now enjoying every day at the palace of the light elves. Sho, because he was dutiful, showed him around the castle and its ground and Nino quickly found a place at the banks of the lake that calmed him.

Everyone in the palace had figured out that Nino liked the spot on the banks, so they left it free for him intentionally. Nino usually chose to sit on the big stone at the shore, listening to the water softly swapping against the hard material, his body relaxing to the sound.

He watched an eagle flying over the lake, obviously enjoying the freedom of the endless sky. Nino wondered how it must feel to be free, free where to go but also free of worries. He would give a lot to feel like that.

Being at the light elves' court had already done a lot to sooth his troubles. Its brightness and the cheerfulness of the people living here was making him feel light hearted and welcome.

Especially having Masaki and his family as well as his very friendly parents around him, filled the void in Nino's heart that had opened after he had seen his family and friends leaving. They had included him into their family immediately and although none of them would be able to understand Nino the way his own parents did, they were giving their best to make Nino feel welcome and at home.

Well, the king and the queen were thinking that Nino would really become part of their family soon in an official way, but the moon elf knew that Masaki was aware of the fact that he and Sho were only pretending to be a couple in order to reunite their folks. Still, he never said anything to Nino and silently joined the conspiracy. Masaki was enjoying their situation way too much anyway and Nino had the slight hunch that he and his wife were actually trying to make Sho fall in love with him for real.

Maybe, they were actually successful in forcing Sho to think that Nino could be the right one for him. The kiss they shared at the birthday party was amazing, and Nino was pretty sure, that Sho did not plan it in advance but acted on an impulse that maybe, Masaki and Satomi had talked into him. If he wanted to show his “love” to Nino in front of all the guests to convince them once more that they were the ideal couple, he would have pulled Nino close to himself on his waist or peck him on his cheek or forehead – that was the usual Sho routine.

However, the kiss during their dance had been different from the ones they had shared before. The one in the garden had been forced but this one was coming from Sho himself, causing Nino's heart to skip more than one beat when it happened.

Nino wasn't quite sure about his own feelings yet. It was kind of hard to figure them out if you were pretending something for the whole time. However, Nino was sure that he liked Sho – a lot.

Coming to think of it, maybe he always had kind of a thing for the older prince of the light elves. That's probably why it was so much fun to think about how to tease him the next time they'd met. After all, Nino would never invest so many thoughts into someone he didn't like.

Nino knew he could stop any further involvement of his feelings for Sho now if he wanted, but he was actually curious to where things would lead them and a flustered Sho was highly amusing. Especially since their kiss on the dance floor Sho was stuttering and blushing around him a lot more than before.

So, in the end, Nino decided to see were things would be going and continue to enjoy his time at the court of the light elves and who knew, maybe they would fall for each other for real. Nino would be lying if he said that he was completely against this possibility.

In any way, he enjoyed staying with the light eves. Their cheerfulness was calming the worries he used to have at his home where the atmosphere was slightly darker. Nino hadn't thought about them for some time and he felt better and at peace here. He realized that he nearly forgot having worries at all, and he was praying that it would stay like this, because he didn't want to deal with them ever again, especially since that would have the potential to become very dangerous.

Stretching his limbs, Nino closed his eyes and turned his face towards the sun. It was warming his face and he quickly felt simple happiness filling his heart.

“Nino?”

The moon elf grinned upon hearing that specific voice calling out for him. He hadn't expected Sho to join him out here, but he would not reject the pretty prince.

So, Nino turned around towards the approaching man.

“What's wrong, sugar lips?” he asked sneakily, holding his laughter when Sho furrowed his eyebrows over the name.

However, the successor of the light elves regained his composure quickly.

“Have you seen Toma and Keiko?” he asked and immediately Nino turned serious.

“They asked me today if I would allow them to take Taro for a trip to the woods and since Masaki said it's fine, I said yes. But that was hours ago,” he informed the prince who sighed heavily.

“Taro has been found in the yard but the twins are still missing,” Sho explained the situation.

“Taro would never leave his rider behind,” Nino said and jumped to his feet.

Sho quickly held his hands up to calm the moon elf.

“I know that your horse is amazing and I believe that it would always take care of whoever is riding him, especially since it also seems to like the twins a lot,” he said and Nino nodded.

“However, maybe something had happened and it got scared...,” Sho's voice trailed off. “I was wondering, since it is your horse, you might see any changes in its behaviour that could give us a hint,” Sho went on and Nino immediately agreed to come with him.

He was still convinced that his horse would stay with its rider, no matter what happened but he left it at that. Right now it was way more important to find Toma and Keiko.

On their way up to the castle, Nino was starting to feel the panic raise up. He had grown really fond of the twins and was scared that indeed something terrible happened to them. At the same time, feelings he had just thought that were finally gone started troubling his mind once again.

Terrible memories rushed through Nino's brain, pictures that were haunting him in his dreams, causing him to wake up covered in sweat with an aching heart. At such times, he could also feel the hatred flooding through his body that was hard to get under control.

However, Nino forced the memories into the farthest part of his brain in order to concentrate on the problem that was lying ahead of him right now.

They arrived at the stables and Nino quickly made his way to the booth where his black horse was accommodated.

The moment he arrived, he got a bad feeling. His horse was prancing in his booth, not able to stand still.

“What's wrong, Taro?” Nino asked and climbed into the booth, reaching out for the animal. However, Taro backed away.

Seeing his horse like this, the moon elf felt the panic rise again. It seemed that something was disturbing his horse badly which could only mean that indeed something happened to the twins. However, in order to be able to look closely on Taro's behaviour, Nino needed to stay calm, so he once again pushed away his feelings and gave his best to regain his composure.

“Calm down, boy, tell me what happened,” Nino tried again but the horse neighed, shaking its head forcefully while trying to bring as much space between itself and the elf as possible.

Upon the behaviour of his horse, although Nino wanted to, he couldn't stop the panic as well as the memories that tried to break through the surface from taking over anymore. He had been in a situation where he had lost someone before.

Nino was pretty sure that he wasn't able to cope with another tragedy since the past one was still haunting him to the point that it was nearly braking him and only his willpower not to give into these feelings of darkness had saved him until now.

So, this time, there had to be a happy end and therefore, the moon elf needed his horse to tell him what happened. Trying once more, Nino took one step towards the animal, reaching out for his horse, but it only pressed itself further into the corner of its booth.

Taro was looking scared at his owner, causing Nino's heart to ache. The bond between him and his horse was quite deep and they would understand each other through their thoughts, so Nino had no idea why Taro was behaving like this right now.

“Do you want me to try it?” Sho asked and reached out for the horse that took a step towards the light elves' outstretched hand.

Nino shook his head. Sho wouldn't be able to understand Taro the way he did. He needed to connect to his horse in order to find out what happened and why it was backing away from him.

“I will try it once more,” he said determined and moved closer to his horse again.

Things happened fast after that.

While Nino was unaware of his surroundings, only wanting to calm his horse through their connection, Sho, who had been watching the scene silently, was more attentive.

With an amazing speed, he grabbed Nino and pulled him out of the booth just in time, or the moon elf would have been crushed by the horse's hoofs.

Taro was stomping its feet, panting, its eyes wide opened and its fur covered in sweat. It was clear that it didn't want Nino to come any closer.

The moon elf had fallen into a state of shock. From the safety of Sho's arms he was looking at his horse, that had just attacked him.

He had never seen Taro like this before. Something really bad must have happened that his horse was that scared.

Nino started to tremble upon this realization and his surroundings became blurry. All that kept him from fainting were Sho's strong arms around his waist.

“Nino!” he heard the light elf calling for him, however, his voice seemed to come from far away.

He didn't want to go through this again. He just couldn't loose someone who had become dear to him again, it would break him for sure.

Nino could feel the darkness he had feared so much, fought against so often and managed to push back the last months, coming over him again with full force.

Wouldn't it be easier to just give in? It would make him numb, unable to feel anything again, taking the pain away. That sounded too good to be true...

Nino felt all the strength leaving his body but he was not fighting against the faint.

“NINO!”

The moon elf barely realized that Sho was trying to hold him upright when he closed his eyes.

He could hear Sho talking to him and it was the only thing that stopped the darkness from swallowing him completely.

Suddenly, a sound managed its way into Nino's thoughts. It was the cheerful laughter of a child.

“Keiko?”

Nino's head shot up.

More voices could be heard, more laughter and giggling, fighting against the black fog in Nino's brain.

“Nino?”

Also Sho's voice sounded more clear than before, and now, Nino could see the worry in the light elf's eyes.

“Are you okay?” he was asked.

“Did I just hear the twins?” Nino wanted to know. He NEEDED to know in order to win over the darkness once more.

 

“Yes. They must be back, and they must be safe, they sound pretty cheerful,” Sho gave back, helping Nino to stand up again.

“That's good!” the moon elf breathed out, clearing his mind from the last pieces of black fog.

Sho nodded and took a step back from Nino, his hand still lying on his waist to make sure he would be able to catch the moon elf in case he'd faint again.

“What happened to you just now?” Sho asked, his eyes worried and slightly confused.

“I was just shocked that Taro reacted like this,” Nino lied, not wanting to tell Sho about the darkness he was fighting.

“I see,” Sho nodded. He seemed to accept the moon elf's explanation. “That was really strange, though. Usually, your horse wouldn't let you leave,” he added thoughtfully.

“Who knows. Maybe there was a rat behind me. He doesn't like them,” Nino tried to stop Sho's worries although he had a hunch what happened to his horse.

Taro was usually able to feel when Nino was close to be overwhelmed by the darkness. Since he was scared of it (as was Nino), he would get nervous and scared. Since it was still feeling responsible for Nino though, he wouldn't run away but would only try to bring as much space between its rider as it could while still watching him.

Nino threw Sho a wary smile who returned it awkwardly, but the moon elf could see that Sho was still trying to make sense out of what just happened.

“Since Keiko and Toma are back, don't you want to check on them and find out where they have been?” Nino therefore tried to change the topic.

“What about you?” Sho asked, looking worried at the moon elf.

“I am fine now,” Nino assured him. “I want to stay with Taro for a bit longer to make sure he's alright too.”

“Will he attack you again?” Sho threw the horse a look.

“No, he's fine now,” Nino gave back and reached out for the horse, that immediately came over to him and nuzzles his hand.

When Sho was finally convinced that Nino was out of danger, he nodded and turned around to leave the stable and check on the twins.

Thoughtfully, Nino caressed his horse's soft fur while his thoughts were running wild.

Just before, he was only a few steps away from being caught by that dangerous darkness that, although he thought he'd managed to control, was still sleeping inside of him.

Furthermore, Sho witnessed his fight today and Nino hoped that the light elf didn't know much about the moon elves' nature, otherwise he would quickly make sure to ban Nino from the court to keep his family safe.

~ ~ ~

Sho was tossing around in his bed, not able to find peace and fall asleep that night.

The day had been nerve-wrecking with the twins missing and Nino's breakdown. Actually, the incident with the moon elf had shaken him quite a lot.

He had never seen Nino like this before and it had been somewhat scary. Even Nino's horse had been frightened, although it used to be crazy for its rider.

The look in Nino's eyes had been so wild and lost that Sho had thought he would loose him right there.

Sho had panicked, not knowing what to do when Nino was about to faint. The only thing that had seemed right to him was to hold tight onto the moon elf, calling for him over and over again.

When the attack was over and Nino back to normal, Sho had been overly relieved, but also clueless about to what to do.

When he met Nino later, the moon elf behaved normally, asking about the twins and Sho gladly told him the story about Toma and Keiko coming back home, leaving Taro in the yard while they ran down in the cellar of the castle to hide their new found “dragon egg”, which had turned out to be a simple rainbow coloured stone.

Since nobody had expected the kids to be down there as they usually avoided the humid and dark cellar, they hadn't been found immediately.

Upon hearing the story, Nino sighed deeply, and Sho could see the relief painted on his face.

None of the two mentioned anything about Nino's attack after that and Sho thought that if Nino didn't want to talk about it, he shouldn't push him. Still, he was wondering what was bugging the moon elf and if there was anything Sho could do to help. That's why he couldn't fall asleep, his brain was too busy thinking.

Deciding, that he had been lying awake long enough without calming down, Sho sat up. If he couldn't sleep, he could do something more useful.

So Sho got out of bed and in order to not wake Nino tried to tiptoe towards the door. He wanted to leave the room and go to the library.

Sho nearly got a heart attack when he passed the window and saw a slender silhouette on the sill. He recognized Nino a second later and his heartbeat calmed down again.

“Nino?” he asked softly and the moon elf turned towards him.

He seemed to be surprised to see Sho standing there in the middle of the dark room, so Sho figured Nino must have been in deep thoughts.

Sho walked over to Nino, drawn by the silver glowing eyes of the moon elf. However, when he reached him, he could see that his cheeks were wet, the liquid shimmering in the moonlight.

“Oh, Nino, what happened?” he immediately inquired before he could even consider the fact that the moon elf maybe wanted to be alone with his thoughts and when the moon elf stayed silent, Sho thought that it might be the best to leave him to himself.

When he was just about to turn around and walk out of the room, Nino took a deep breath.

“Have you ever lost someone who was dear to you?”

Sho shook his head.

“No, I was fortunate until now,” he replied and sat down on the window sill next to Nino.

“That's why your light is still burning so bright,” the moon elf mumbled.

Nino fell silent after it but his tears started to flow again.

“I am sorry for your loss,” Sho offered his condolences.

“I miss him so much,” Nino whispered and a sob escaped him.

With an aching heart, Sho took Nino into his arm. He could only imagine Nino's pain since, as he said before, hadn't experienced anything alike until now. Still, he felt the need of comforting the moon elf.

“He must have been a great person,” he started and Nino nodded while he leaned his head onto Sho's shoulder, searching for even more comforting body contact.

“Sometimes we only realize the whole impact a person had on our life when he or she is gone,” Sho went on, rubbing over Nino's arm soothingly. “Therefore, we should be even more thankful for the time we were able to spend with that person.”

Sho felt Nino nodding.

They stayed like that for a bit longer, the moon elf sobbing once in a while but he seemed to slowly calm down.

When Sho felt Nino shivering he realized that it indeed was quite chilly, so he made a decision.

Slowly, he parted from Nino to be able to stand up. Then, he scooped the moon elf up, surprised by how light he was. Sho carried him to his bed, laying him down carefully, before pulling the blanket over Nino.

The moon elf was silent for the whole time but when Sho was about to make his way to the sofa, Nino reached out for him.

“Can you...,” he began, his voice only a soft whisper. “Can you stay here with me?”

Surprised, Sho looked at the moon elf but granted his wish after only a few seconds.

He crawled under the blanket, and, after pushing away all doubts, Sho took Nino into his arms once more.

Nino needed a few seconds to relax but then he adjusted himself until they were huddled together under the blanket, gaining comfort in each other's presence.

“Thank you,” Nino whispered and Sho hummed softly while he stroke over Nino's back.

After a while, Sho could hear Nino's breath getting deeper and was glad that the moon elf seemed to have calmed down for now.

Of course Sho was itching to know what exactly happened to Nino and who he lost, mainly because he wanted to help since the moon elf was obviously still struggling with it. However, if Nino wasn't ready to tell him, Sho would not pester him about it. He only hoped that maybe his presence was soothing Nino a bit so he could forget about the incident once in a while.

~ ~ ~

Sho watched Masaki throwing the ball and his winged dog half ran, half flew after it enthusiastically.

He had found his brother in the royal garden, playing with his beloved pet. Masaki had gotten the winged dog from their parents when he was a child and the animal had always had a special place in Masaki's heart. Compared to normal dogs, the winged dogs grew a lot older, so the two would have many more years that they could spend together.

“What did you want to talk about?” Masaki asked his brother while taking the ball from his dog's mouth, throwing it again.

“It's about Nino,” Sho began.

Ever since the incident with the missing twins and Nino's reveal the night after, Sho had been watching the moon elf even more closely than ever.

Nino had been sweet and polite as always (just not to Sho – as always), so at first glance nobody could see a change. However, sometimes, when Nino thought nobody was paying attention to him, a desperate expression used to run over his face that caused Sho's heart to cramp.

The moon elf was in pain and of course, Sho had an idea where this came from. However, since Nino never talked about the person he lost, again, Sho felt that he didn't have the right to ask.

Still, it was hurting him to see Nino like that and he wanted to do something for the moon elf. The problem was, that he had no idea what he could do. Masaki was really attentive when it came to other people's needs and he and Nino used to be friends for quite some time, so Sho hoped that his brother could help him.

“Is something wrong with him?” Sho's brother wanted to know, keeping on playing with the obviously tireless dog.

“You know, sometimes he carries that painful expression,” Sho told his brother about his observations.

“Really?” Masaki crooked his head. “I haven't noticed.”

“He is hiding it very well, but I sometimes catch him when he thinks nobody is watching him,” Sho explained.

His brother hummed, so he continued.

“Also, he is tossing and turning in his sleep quite a lot lately. He even hit me once...”

“Not everyone is having trouble only because he is moving much in his sleep- WAIT!” Masaki turned to Sho. “Did you say he hit you?”

His eyes began to sparkle when Sho nodded.

“That means you're sleeping in the same bed now!”

Masaki grinned like mad, making Sho groan.

“That's not the point, Masaki!” he scolded his brother, but the younger prince was already too excited.

“And you are so worried about him. THAT'S SO CUTE!” he went on, patting Sho on his shoulder.

The light elves' successor already began to doubt his decision to ask his brother for help. However, he had no idea how to help Nino. That's why he needed his brother.

“Can you stop this, please,” he asked annoyed and Masaki, trying to hide his amusement, nodded.

“I don't know what is troubling Nino that much, so I was hoping you might have an idea?” Sho said, looking expectantly at his brother.

Masaki thought about Sho's question while petting his dog's head. The animal had grown tired of chasing the ball in the end and was now lying down at the two princes' feet.

“He didn't tell me anything and the fact that he is trying to hide it that much tells us that he doesn't want anyone to know about it. Maybe he doesn't want to trouble you with his worries.”

“But I want to be troubled by his worries and I want to help him,” Sho shouted and the dog looked at him with big inquiring eyes.

“I understand you, Sho-chan. I also want to help Satomi when something is worrying her. It's only natural to feel like this when the person you like has something on their mind,” Masaki stated and when Sho opened his mouth (to tell his brother that he didn't like Nino THAT much), his brother brushed him off.

“Since you obviously don't know what is troubling Nino, you can either ask him or think about a way to cheer him up,” he went on and Sho closed his mouth again to listen to his brother.

“I don't think I have the right to ask him if he doesn't want to tell me,” the older one voiced his opinion. “But I also don't have any idea how to cheer him up. Masaki, what shall I do?”

“You could bring him to his family,” Masaki suggested.

When Sho looked at him quite unconvinced, the younger light elf explained his thoughts further.

“You remember that when Nino was forced to stay here, he told you that he missed his family already. He most likely still feels that way, so seeing them again would surely lift his mood.”

Sho nodded thoughtfully. What his brother said was actually making sense. Especially, when Sho took into account that Nino was troubled ever since the incident with the twins. Maybe, this had caused him to remember just how much he missed his own family.

The light elves' successor suddenly felt really bad. Nino was carrying all these problems and was still trying to give his best in his role as Sho's partner while Sho himself did not realize how troubled Nino was.

In the split of a second, Sho made a decision. He wanted Nino to be happy and to smile again.

“I will start making preparations for a trip to the kingdom of the moon elves right now,” he said and his brother nodded enthusiastically.

“What a fine boyfriend you are, caring so much about your Nino,” he added then, causing Sho to take a deep breath.

“I am not REALLY his boyfriend, you know that Masaki. I only want him to be happy, that's all,” he explained.

“Sure,” his brother gave back and leaned down to ruffle his dog's soft fur. Still, Sho could see the smile he was trying to hide.

Annoyed he rolled his eyes. Masaki had always jumped to conclusions.

Just because he wanted to make Nino happy didn't mean that he was in love with him. Also, he was just sleeping in one bed with the moon elf because wanted him to have a restful sleep, no more, no less.

Sho nodded to himself, trying to shut up the annoying little voice in his brain that told him that this was truly couple-like.

He didn't have time to think about it. He had a trip to plan – now!

~ ~ ~

Nino watched Sho hugging his mother one last time. The whole royal family was there to say goodbye to them.

When Sho had proposed to visit the moon elf's parents together, Nino had been surprised. He had no idea why the light elves' successor had thought it was needed (especially since the next unity festival was in a month so they would have gone there anyway) but he was truly happy about the proposal.

He was really looking forward to see his parents again and to be back in his own room, which was full of all the things he liked. He wanted to show Sho his telescope. The sky was a bit darker in the kingdom of the moon elves and so the stars were even more visible.

Sho never had been in his room before. During the unity festival at the autumn equinox, the light elves' prince had always tried to stay as far away from Nino as possible. However, this time, Nino was sure that Sho was actually looking forward to see his room.

Their relationship had been improving day by day and lately, Nino felt that he received a lot of attention from Sho which made him happy.

“Take care on your way,” Sho's father said when his son climbed onto his horse.

“Don't let anything happen to your Nino,” his mother added and Sho assured her that he will take care of his “partner”.

Nino grinned shyly and caught Aiba showing him thumbs up.

Before this could develop into something more embarrassing, Sho urged his horse to start moving. Nino followed him, waving to the light elves that had become his family over the past months.

The light bubbles followed them and, to Nino's surprise, did not stop at the castle walls. Sho had to shush them back inside which they, as the moon elf thought, did only reluctantly.

He told Sho the story about him and Masaki trying to smuggle one of the balls outside for Nino to take home with, causing the prince to laugh wholeheartedly.

“For some reason they decided to see me as their king, so they always stay close to me. Whenever I leave I have to tell them to stay at the castle. They don't like it much,” Sho explained.

“So you're the king of the light bubbles?” Nino asked with a grin.

“So to say,” Sho agreed.

“I like that,” Nino gave back and Sho smiled.

“Do you want me to call a few of them back so you can take them to your room?” Sho asked but Nino shook his head.

“I think they would get lonely over there and besides, I suppose I will come back to your castle soon again, so I can enjoy them here.”

Sho only smiled and Nino directed his eyes to the front again. They hadn't talked about how their fake relationship would go on. If they would always pretend to be lovers or if, after the whole problem with the rebels was solved, they would announce their break-up.

Nino knew that they couldn't go on like this forever, but right now he liked how things were going, and he wasn't too sure yet, but he had a hunch that none of the two options was what they truly wanted. Maybe, Sho was thinking the same since he hadn't touched the topic either.

The hours passed and they chatted over everything and nothing, just like they used to do when they were lying in bed in the evening, both still too much awake to fall asleep.

After a few hours, they arrived at a crossroad. Both ways were leading to the kingdom of the moon elves, they were just going through different landscapes.

“So Masaki said we should take the route through the forest,” Sho remembered.

Indeed, the younger light elf had come to them the evening before to tell them about a landslide on one of the paths. This wasn't unusual because it was leading through a quite mountainous landscape and if it rained, the risk of landslides was quite high.

However, Nino dreaded the way through the forest since he had a really painful memory connected to this place.

“The other path looks alright to me though,” Nino stated, hoping to convince Sho to take the other route.

“Masaki came only back yesterday and he said that this road has been closed. I doubt that they managed to clear the way over the night. Especially, since my brother said that it was a huge landslide,” the light elf reasoned and already turned towards the other way.

“We could take a look,” Nino suggested, already feeling the panic raising.

“It would cost us too much time in case the way is really blocked. Don't you want to see your parents as soon as possible?”

Sho looked at the moon elf in confusion. Nino knew that he was being unreasonable but he really didn't want to go trough that forest. He hadn't set a foot into those woods ever since THAT had happened.

“Are you okay?” Sho asked and Nino took a deep breath. He didn't want to spoil Sho's plan to visit his parents because he really wanted to see them, and he loved that the light elf had come up with this idea only for him.

Nino turned his head into Sho's direction who looked at him with worried eyes. He seemed to be seriously concerned about Nino.

With a deep breath, Nino made a decision. The past months, and especially the two weeks after his attack had shown him a side of Sho he hadn't seen much before. The light elf had always been fair and followed his beliefs no matter what others said. At the same time, Sho tried his utmost best to understand people's ways of thinking, never judging anyone. The moon elf appreciated this character trait and was therefore willing to open himself to Sho, hoping to gain his understanding.

“You remember that I told about someone I lost?” he asked Sho who nodded with a serious expression. “It happened in that forest.”

The light elf opened his eyes in shock before his expression changed into sadness.

“I am sorry, Nino. I didn't know!” he said and urged his horse closer to Nino to reach out for him.

“I cannot go through it because of that,” the moon elf went on and tried to fight his tears.

“That's totally understandable,” Sho assured him, stroking his thumb over Nino's hand.

They stayed like this for a moment and the connection to Sho slowly calmed Nino's heart again.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” Sho asked softly after a few minutes.

When Nino stayed silent, he pressed the moon elf's hand softly.

“You don't have to tell me...,” he began, but Nino shook his head.

He wanted Sho to know. Maybe, the light elf was able to understand him. Actually, Nino was kind of hoping for Sho to find the right words, as he had done so often lately.

Sho's words had been able to soothe him when he had been so troubled after the attack. The light elf had been his anchor when the darkness had reached out for Nino again those past weeks. Maybe, just maybe, Sho could heal him completely.

“I want to tell you,” Nino therefore stated and climbed down from Taro. Sho did the same and they sat down on the soft grass, leaving the horses to themselves.

“As you know, I am an only child,” Nino began and Sho nodded. “I always wished for a sibling to play with and talk to, or maybe even just a friend, but most of the kids at the court were careful around me, suspecting problems if they become friends with me. You know, that's kind of our nature,” the moon elf went on and Sho nodded understandingly.

“One day, my mum was having a really bad cold and our doctors were kind of clueless on how to help her. One of them knew about a moon elf who was living in the realm of the light elves, pretty close to their castle. He was said to be one of the best medics of our folk. They asked him to come and he was able to cure my mother easily.”

“I'm glad she could be cured,” Sho threw in and Nino smiled at him thankfully before he went on.

“I was immediately attached to him. Although he was a moon elf, he didn't beat around the bush, leading others to a possible misunderstanding. He was always clearly saying what he was thinking, sticking to his beliefs no matter what others were saying.”

Nino wiped a small tear away that had formed in the corner of his eye while he was talking. He felt Sho putting his arm around his shoulders and urged himself to keep on.

“Since that day I often visited him there in the forest. I could talk with him about all the things that were on my mind although he was way older than me. Maybe, because he was older he could understand me easily and I always felt at ease when I was with him.”

Nino stopped to gulp down the lump that had formed in his throat. He often wished to be brought back to these days.

“I spent a lot of time with him and he became my friend and also my mentor. He was living in close communion with nature, knowing a lot about its living beings and he taught me many things. I learned to treasure nature more than before because he made me become amazed by all the wonderful things it was offering to us.”

Nino felt Sho nodding next to him. Elves loved nature, but Nino thought that no one had been closer to understand how the whole cosmos worked than his deceased friend. He had been longing to reach this knowledge as well, but now there was nobody anymore who could teach him.

Bracing himself to re-live again what had happened on that dreadful day, Nino took a deep breath before he felt Sho tightening his embrace.

“One day, we were out in the woods, looking for some herbs when he came across a young light elf who was carrying a net, looking for something. We asked him what he was up to and he told us that he wanted to catch the deadly poisonous viper that only lived in these woods. My friend warned him that the animal would become very aggressive in a fight and that it was extremely risky. The light elf though said, that he trained hard and was as fast as the wind while he laughed about our worries.”

Sho sucked his breath in, probably knowing what was to come.

“We let him go and went our way, but about an hour later we heard a terrible scream. Although I tried to stop my friend, he said he couldn't ignore someone in need of help. We found the young light elf soon, lying on the ground. His body was trembling and we both immediately knew that this was a sign of poisoning.”

“Such a stupid elf,” Sho threw in, shaking his head.

“Indeed,” Nino agreed. “My friend immediately rushed to him. He always carried a bottle of antidote with him, but since it was really hard to produce he only had a small bottle that contained just enough to heal one person.

In his haste, he didn't see that the viper was still close to the young elf. It thought it would be attacked and defended itself with another bite. My friend fell down next to the elf, the poison already working its way through his body. Immediately, I ran towards him but he ordered me to stand back as far as possible to not become a victim of the viper as well.”

By now, Nino was crying. Going through that painful memory was nearly breaking him, but Sho's strong arm around his shoulders gave him the courage to go on, telling the light elf the bitter end of the story.

“My friend took his bottle of antidote and I was about to cry tears of relief, when I thought he was going to take it, but then I saw him giving it to the young light elf. I screamed and tried to stop him but he just said that he was old and had a long and happy life, wile the young elf had still so many years to live. I told him that I didn't care about the other elf but needed him in my life. He scolded me for being selfish and ordered me to take care of the young elf and bring him back to his home. These were his last words before he …”

Nino's voice broke and Sho pulled him against his chest. The moon elf hid himself in the embrace and let his tears run free, the scene in front of his eyes as clear as if it had been yesterday.

Sho stroke over his hair soothingly and after some minutes, Nino's tears subdued slowly and he calmed down a bit.

“I can only imagine how hard this must have been for you,” Sho whispered. “I am sorry you had to experience something so terrible!”

“It was so hard for me to bring this young elf back. I wanted to leave him behind in the woods, but it was my friend's last wish,” Nino said with a flat voice.

“You did the right thing,” Sho assured him.

“I could never forgive him for killing my friend,” the moon elf went on. “And then I saw that elf at the unity festival this year, dancing around, laughing happily. He was wearing the uniform of your knights. He was given the honour of serving the royal family even after what he did. I wanted to jump at him, hurt him, make him understand how much sorrow he brought to me and all the other moon elves with his stupid act...,”

Nino was feeling the darkness reaching out for him again. His anger was adding fuel to it, letting it grow until it was fogging his brain again.

“That's why you were gone suddenly,” Sho remembered and Nino nodded.

“I needed to think about what I should do next,” the moon elf explained.

Sho suddenly stiffened.

“You decided to stay,” he suddenly said and Nino frowned. “You wanted to take revenge on him but in order to do that, you had to make sure to be able to be at our palace,” Sho went on.

He pushed Nino out of his embrace and stood up.

The moon elf was shocked about Sho's words and actions so he was too slow to make him stop jumping to conclusions.

“That's why you suddenly kissed me. You wanted that fake relationship to ensure you a place in our palace, so you could plan your revenge,” Sho talked himself into a rage.

Nino felt the situation taking a completely wrong turn and he felt panic rising in his chest. He couldn't understand why Sho was suddenly talking such nonsense.

“You're wrong,” he therefore tried to stop Sho, but it was already too late.

“You tricked me,” the light elf shouted and looked down at Nino. “I should have known. You're a moon elf, after all. Your dark side is too strong.”

With these words, Sho turned around and stomped away.

Nino helplessly watched him disappearing into the woods. He wanted to scream after him to turn around and come back, but his lips wouldn't open.

He was frozen in shock. Never had he imagined that Sho would misunderstand him like that. It was a far-fetched assumption and Nino couldn't understand how the logical thinking light elf could even believe in his own absurd theory, since Nino had never tried to harm the elf from the royal guard in any way.

However, there was one thing that hurt Nino even more. How could Sho even think that he only stayed at the palace because he wanted revenge?

Just HOW?

Nino just opened his heart to him. He told him about the happening that had influenced his whole life, his whole being. He put his trust in Sho and hoped that maybe the light elf was able to understand him and to find the right words to sooth his troubled mind.

That Sho could let him down had not come to his mind at all.

But maybe, he didn't deserve any better. After all, he was still carrying this feelings of grudge with him. He desired that the light elf's life, that had been rescued by Nino's friend, would have been taken and wishing for someone's death was a terribly bad trait.

Sho said that Nino's dark side was still dominating him. He was right.

Nino would never be able to get rid of these feelings, so the darkness would always be calling for him. And why shouldn't he answer...

~ ~ ~

Sho was stomping through the forest. His hands were clenched into fists while his lips were pressed to a thin line.

He was angry. Nino betrayed him. He misused the trust he was given by everyone, but the worst thing was that he was playing with him.

Another feeling suddenly mixed itself into the whirlwind of Sho's emotion – sadness. Sho tried to kick it out, but it was really persistent. No matter what he tried, the sadness stayed.

Sho really didn't want to deal with it. He wanted to remain angry at Nino for using him to stay at the palace, thinking of a way how to take his revenge.

He didn't want to think about how much it also hurt him that the moon elf was not as interested in him as he had thought. Lately, Sho had the feeling that Nino was searching for contact with him, especially since he wasn't that cynical about their fake relationship anymore, ever since their dance (and the kiss).

He thought that the evenings they spent chatting had meant more to Nino as well as the secrets they told each other. He thought, he was someone special to the moon elf.

However, Nino's revelation had destroyed everything Sho had thought they had and the more his heart ached due to that fact, the angrier Sho got.

He always denied Aiba's not so subtle hints that Sho was actually enjoying his fake relationship with Nino, but deep down Sho knew that his brother was right. He had a thing for Nino – whatever it was and that's why he was stomping through the forest right now, anger burning within him.

Sho wasn't sure how far he walked when he suddenly heard the heavy strokes of a big bird. He turned around only to see an eagle aiming at him.

He dodged and the animal passed him without a contact but it turned around immediately and emitted a loud and angry cry.

Sho tried to swat the bird away, but it seemed to only get more aggressive.

“What do you want from me?!” Sho shouted angrily and the eagle cried out once more.

It always blocked Sho whenever he wanted to move forward and managed to push him back more and more steps. Somehow, it dawned Sho that he saw that animal before and he suddenly had an idea about what it was trying to do.

“I am not going back to him!” he stated clearly, taking a step forward. Immediately, the eagle darted forward and pecked Sho furiously.

The light elf took several steps backwards while he looked at a wound on his arm, that already showed a few drops of blood. It was only a superficial injury though.

“Why do you want me to go back? Nino doesn't want me. He was only using me...,” Sho vented his anger at the bird who only shrieked and for a moment the light elf thought that he had seen the animal rolling its eyes.

The eagle dived down once more to push Sho into the right direction when suddenly a loud and painful scream resounded in the forest.

Sho froze.

He had recognised that voice.

“Nino!” he cried out, his body on alert. It sounded as if the moon elf was in trouble and all of Sho's anger vanished immediately to make way for another emotion – fear.

Sho looked around, trying to figure out where he was but when he was stomping angrily through that forest, he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings.

He ruffled his hair in despair when the eagle above him cried out again.

Sho looked up and made up his mind.

“Bring me to him!”

The eagle darted through the air and Sho followed him. It took them only a few minutes, but when Sho reached the crossroads again, he froze immediately.

At the spot, where he left Nino behind, was something Sho had never seen before. However, and this caused Sho to panic immediately, the moon elf was nowhere to be seen.

Its skin was black with silver lines that looked like vessels. The eyes were red and the canines rather resembled fangs. It had wings, but not the feathery, majestic ones. They were leathery and black like overly huge wings of an old bat, and it had claws as hands and feet.

The figure was trembling and hissing and Sho, who immediately feared that this thing had attacked Nino, who was still nowhere to be seen, maybe even had eaten him, started looking around for something to kill it with.

However, he left his sword at the saddle and his horse was nowhere near either. Nino's horse was still there though, backing away from the figure more and more, but Sho could see Nino's bow, so he went over to the animal, trying to sooth it while he reached out for the weapon.

When he was drawing the bow and directing an arrow at the black figure, the eagle suddenly began to attack Sho again. He was trying to shush it away, not wishing for another death at this day, but it was persistent and didn't let Sho shoot.

Suddenly, Sho met the eyes of the creature. They were bloody and red, but something in their fragile look triggered a memory in his brain. There had only been one pair of eyes that had ever looked at him like this.

“Nino?” he whispered and finally lowered the bow.

The figure stopped trembling for a moment and its eyes turned softer.

“You… came back,” it said and suddenly looked relieved.

Sho nodded awkwardly, his brain still in the middle of the process to understand what was happening. Why was Nino looking like a demon? Had he been captured by the darkness that was said to reach out for moon elves?

“I am so glad...,” the creature, well, Nino, whispered and Sho's heart was skipping a beat upon hearing this.

“Nino,” he said and walked closer to him.

However, before Sho could reach the demon-like moon elf, the latter started trembling again. Sho could only watch when those soft eyes suddenly turned into aggressive, wild ones again and then, the creature screamed again, its voice filled with pain.

Sho quickly realized that he was loosing Nino...

However, he didn't want that to happen. He couldn't loose Nino. Not now. Not after he had told Sho that he was glad he came back.

Another cry forced Sho to focus on Nino again. who had hooked his claws into the grass and was throwing his head to the sides as if he was fighting against something, trying to push it out of his brain.

A painful moan broke over Nino's lips before he suddenly became limp and collapsed on the ground.

In panic, Sho ran to him, only to realize that the deformed moon elf's breath had gotten shallow.

“Nino!” he screamed but there was no reaction.

He reached out for the figure but expect for the soft breath the deformed moon elf didn't show any sign of life.

Sho had no idea what to do. His brain was only telling him that he wouldn't survive loosing Nino like that but it wasn't helpful in finding a way to help the moon elf.

When he looked around in desperation, his eyes suddenly fell on Taro. The horse had wide opened eyes and was flicking its tail nervously, but it was still there.

It hit Sho that he had to bring Nino to someone who could cure him, preferably fast. He could only think of their royal doctor, hoping that he knew enough about moon elves to help Nino.

It took Sho a lot of persuasion to make Taro move and when he lifted Nino to put him on the horse's back, the white of its eyes became really prominent. Still, it didn't run away.

“This is our Nino. We have to help him,” Sho explained and tried to sooth the horse with his thoughts. He wasn't as good as Aiba in this, but he hoped that it would help.

Indeed, Taro let him put Nino on his back and when Sho sat up behind him, it started to sidle but waited for the instructions from the light elf.

Sho secured Nino with his left arm, checking his vitals once more. They were terribly low and Sho nearly freaked out but he forced himself to stay calm. Nino needed him right now and there was no use to panic.

He took a deep breath and reached out for Taro's reins. He directed the horse to the way back to the castle when suddenly the eagle from before appeared once again. Over his fear over Nino Sho had completely forgotten about the animal.

The eagle stopped mid-air in front of Sho, flapping its wings in agitation. Sho was wondering about what the animal wanted him to tell but when he urged Taro forward, the eagle cried out again.

“Not this way?” Sho asked in confusion.

The eagle flew over to the forest again, obviously waiting for Sho to follow him.

The prince took a deep breath before he made Taro turn around. The eagle had brought him back to Nino. Maybe it was the right decision to bet everything on the animal, especially since Sho had some doubts that the royal doctor would have any idea on how to cure Nino.

He followed the bird through the forest, quickly loosing orientation. Nino didn't move at all in his arms and Sho had the feeling that the moon elf's body was slowly getting colder. Therefore, he urged Taro to move faster.

They must have been deep in the woods when the eagle suddenly disappeared. Sho cursed and began to loose his hope.

Of course, a simple animal could not understand what was happening, let alone guide him to someone who could help. It had followed its own wants and Sho had stupidly assumed that it was trying to help him.

Tears began to run down Sho's face. Going in the opposite direction of the light elves' palace, deeper into the woods, having no idea of how to get out of it again, had probably crushed his only chance to heal Nino.

He looked down to the monstrous figure in his arm that had once been the moon elf.

Sho wanted to scream, to yell, to let out all of his sadness but no sound came out of his mouth.

“What are you doing?” an unknown voice suddenly interrupted him.

Sho's head shot up and his eyes fell on a tall man with black hair and a beautiful face that was dominated by some prominent eyebrows.

He reached for the bow, knowing that it was already too late to defend himself with it. If the enemy wanted to attack him, he would be too slow to draw the bow, especially with Nino in one of his arms.

“We don't have time to stand around. He doesn't have much time left,” the man said and nodded into Nino's direction.

“Who are you?” Sho had finally found back to his voice.

“The eagle,” the man gave back. “Now follow me!” he ordered and started to run.

While Sho's brain was trying to process how the man could be the eagle, Taro had taken over the lead and was indeed following the man.

After a few minutes, they reached a clearing. A skewed hut was standing in the middle, a little streamlet gargling behind it.

“What is this?” Sho asked, not sure what to think of it.

“This is your only chance to save your boyfriend,” the man gave back before he went towards the hut.

~ ~ ~

Sho was pacing up and down in the main room of the hut. It was sparsely furnished with only two armchairs in front of a fireplace, a small table with two chairs and a kitchen with a stove, a sink and a few cupboards.

Although the fire was heating up the room, its warmth didn't reach Sho. He was feeling numb inside because he was too worried about Nino.

When they reached the hut, a small man with a chubby face rushed out of it, demanding Nino to be brought inside, immediately. Sho did as he was told and with the eagle-man's help they brought Nino inside the second room of the hut, that was, judging the huge bed, the bedroom.

After that, the man ushered Sho and the eagle-man out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Sho managed to stay calm for another three minutes after that but then he snapped. He tried to enter the bedroom again, knowing that Nino was inside with a man he had never seen before who was doing who knows what with him.

However, he was stopped by the eagle-man who pulled him away from the door with the comment that it was too dangerous to enter.

Obviously, this comment did not calm down Sho, so he demanded answers.

It turned out that the eagle-man's name was Jun and that he was living in this hut together with Ohno – the man with the chubby cheeks.

Ohno was some sort of magician who was taking care of the balance in the world. Jun had no idea where Ohno came from or who was telling him what to do, if there was someone.

He was found by Ohno, deeply wounded (Jun didn't want to tell Sho how he had gotten into this state) and the magician healed him, giving him the power to transform into an eagle. However, he could only transform into a human when he was close to the magician. That's why he hadn't been able to talk to Sho before.

He was living together with Ohno for three years now, helping him with his work of keeping the balance.

Jun told Sho that he was sent by the magician to spy on Sho and Nino for the first time about half a year before. Ohno told him that it was essential for the elves' folk that the two were “getting along”.

So, Jun witnessed the kiss and the resulting fake relationship. He watched how Sho and Nino got closer over the time and reported about the progress to Ohno.

Things looked great, but Ohno warned Jun that there was still some kind of test for Nino and Sho because Nino, being the moon elf he was, was carrying something dark within him that could take over him.

In case this would happen, Jun was instructed by the magician to bring Nino to him as fast as possible so he could interject.

“And I thought this would not happen because you two were getting along so well,” Jun shot a look at Sho who stopped walking in circles and looked at the man who had taken place in one of the armchairs. “Don't deny it. You are very much in love with him,” Jun went on, rolling his eyes at Sho.

“I don't know,” Sho gave back, crossing his arms. Something about Jun made him want to jump at the man, so he surely didn't want to give in that easily.

“I know it,” the shape-shifter gave back. “After seeing that kiss at you mother's birthday party and all the evenings you two spend in bed together, there is no use to deny it anymore.”

Sho clenched his fists. So Jun had witnessed everything. He started to feel embarrassed knowing that he had been watched that closely.

“Physical closeness is not everything that characterises a relationship, you stalking eagle,” he spat at Jun who simply raised one of his prominent eyebrows.

“You just said the first clever thing today,” he remarked and Sho had to suppress the urge to run over to the man and shake him by his collar.

“Why do you think Nino opened up to you today, telling you the story about his deceased friend?” Jun went on, directing an annoyed look at the light elf. “Definitely not because he was just in a chatty mood today.”

Sho managed to ignore the last sarcastic comment and forced his brain to think about Jun's question. It was indeed true that today Nino had finally told him everything. He gave Sho hints before, once in a while, but he never opened up completely to him. So why now?

Could it be...

Could it be that Nino considered him as trustworthy? That he wanted to share this burden with him?

And how did Sho react? He pushed Nino, who showed him his most vulnerable side, away.

Sho had tried to ignore it, but basically he knew that he was the cause for Nino's transformation.

“You've finally figured it out, blockhead?” Jun broke through his thoughts.

“I am…," not a blockhead, Sho wanted to say but then he reconsidered. “I am the biggest idiot on the planet,” he then said between clenched teeth and Jun nodded.

“Indeed!”

“I misused the trust Nino put into me, got it all wrong and hurt him,” Sho went on.

“Exactly,” Jun agreed dryly.

“Why did I misunderstand him so much? I didn't even give him the chance to explain himself,” Sho groaned in desperation.

“Because you're a moron,” Jun provided (un)helpfully.

“I know,” Sho agreed and sank to the floor.

The hard reality finally hit him full force.

It was his fault that Nino was in this state right now. The moon elf put his trust into him, hoping to find someone who could understand him, help him to get out of the darkness he was wandering in. He placed all of his hopes in Sho...

…and Sho destroyed them, crushed him, turned him into a monster.

Sho hit the floor with his fists, not taking note of the pain that shot through them.

He wanted to scream, to vent his frustration, the disappointment in himself, but he was so shocked about his finding that he couldn't produce a single sound.

When the first wave of emotions passed away, anoter one rolled over Sho. However, this time it was pure panic – panic of losing Nino once and for all.

After spending so much time with him, Sho couldn't imagine a life without the moon elf by his side any longer. Nino had become an unerasable existence to him.

Tears started running down his cheeks. His life would be empty and useless if he'd loose Nino today. He wanted him back – with his cute nose and the thin lips, that tasted so good.

He wanted to relax in bed next to Nino talking about everything that came to his mind, to hear his soft voice when he was talking about the twins or his laughter when Sho told him about his failed attempt to catch a winged cat for Masaki's birthday.

He simply wanted Nino back because, yes, he DID like him – a lot!

Suddenly, he felt someone's presence next to him and an awkward pat on his shoulder.

“Ohno is the best in his field. He will be able to help your boyfriend,” Jun suddenly said. When Sho looked up, Jun wasn't meeting his eyes, but his sharp expression had softened.

Sho only managed to nod. He was placing all his hopes on the chubby magician too. It was essential to him that Ohno would be successful.

“You two are actually quite a nice fit,” Jun went on, rubbing Sho's back at the same time. “I really enjoyed your mocking and teasing but I also saw the longing look in your eyes. That counts for both of you.”

Sho pressed his lips together. Nino and their relationship was, to be honest, full of mocks and teases, indeed. They always had to be careful what to say or they would get it back full force by the other. However, there were also moments when Sho felt closer to Nino than to anyone else.

He always pushed the fact that the had developed feelings for Nino away. Now he wished that he had accepted them earlier which would have given him more time to enjoy their time together.

“It might be too late now,” Sho whispered, burying his face in his hands.

“I truly believe that it is never to late,” Jun replied and pressed Sho's upper arm firmly, aiming to shake Sho out of his desperation.

“Me too,” another voice suddenly joined the conversation and the two men on the floor turned around.

Ohno had just left the bedroom, holding onto the door frame. He was completely pale, but directed a soft smile at Sho.

“He must love you a lot,” the magician added then and made a step towards the two men. He swayed and nearly tripped, but Jun was there to catch him.

The eagle-man guided Ohno towards one of the armchairs. Sho was back on his feet as well, ready to help out if needed.

When Ohno was settled and Jun brought him something to drink, Sho couldn't hep himself anymore. He just had to ask.

“How is Nino?”

The magician smiled and beckoned Sho to sit down in the other armchair.

“He really fought well. If he hadn't decided by himself to rise from the darkness once more, I wouldn't have been able to rescue him,” Ohno said.

“So, he is out of danger now?” the light elf wanted to know.

“I could pretend the worst from happening,” the magician replied.

Sho let out a relieved breath. He would get his Nino back!

“However,” Ohno went on and Sho jerked at the seriousness in the magician's voice, “He is still wandering between the worlds.”

Sho looked at Ohno, having no idea what this meant.

“I could stop his transformation. It wasn't complete, because Nino was fighting against it all the time. Still, the darkness did not let got of him completely yet and there is still the risk for him to fall back down there,” the magician explained.

“What does that mean?” Sho wanted to know, hoping that it wasn't something too serious.

“He is trapped between the worlds. He hasn't gone over to the dark world but he also wasn't able to come back to our world of light yet,” Ohno said.

Sho's hopes crumbled to little pieces.

“But there is a way to get him out of it, right?” Jun suddenly joined the conversation and he was looking at the magician with hopeful eyes.

“There is,” Ohno nodded and Sho's head shot up. “He needs to have a reason to come back to our world.”

“That shouldn't be such a big problem. We have his reason sitting here with us,” Jun stated, nodding into Sho's direction.

“True,” Ohno agreed and Sho had a hard time following the two.

“Can someone please explain to me what you are talking about?” he wanted to know.

Jun rolled his eyes again but Ohno was kind enough to speak.

“It takes a good reason for Nino to leave this world in between were nothing can harm him. YOU are his reason, Sho. He is in love with you, so you are the only one who can bring him back. He needs your help.”

Sho pressed his lips together. He wasn't quite sure if the magician was right, so he voiced his worries.

“I don't think Nino loves me.”

When Jun was about to say something (judging his annoyed expression something not so nice), Ohno cut him off with a flick of his hand.

“Why do you think so?” he inquired.

“Even if he maybe loved me before, today I disappointed him, misused his trust and triggered this transformation,” Sho explained, loosing his hope to rescue Nino with every word he said.

Ohno hummed before he spoke again.

“Still, he fought against the darkness. As I said, there must be something in this world that kept him from leaving completely and I am sure that it is you.”

Sho looked sceptically at the magician, but he was returning the look with a short nod.

“What do I have to do?” the light elf finally asked after a few seconds of pondering.

“Tell him how much he means to you and that you want him back,” Ohno stated.

Sho flinched. That was going to be embarrassing. He had never confessed to someone in his life before although there had been one or two times he had been in love. He had always been too scared of being rejected though and had kept his feelings for himself.

Even if Ohno told him that he thought Nino was in love with him, Sho wasn't sure about it, at all. He hurt Nino terribly today and he simply couldn't imagine that he would forgive him that easily.

Still, if this was the only way to bring Nino back, he had to do it. He just had to speak the truth. He was responsible for what had happened and he wished for Nino to come back to life even if he might never talk to him ever again.

“I'll do it,” he stated therefore and Ohno smiled at him.

When Sho stood up, followed by two pair of eyes, he felt dizzy. He was going to save the life of the person he… loved. The pressure was high. Not just because he was going to fight for a person's life, but also for the life of someone who was essential and extremely important to him.

Sho wanted nothing more than to succeed. He hoped that Ohno was right and that HE was Nino's reason to come back.

He took a deep breath before he entered the bedroom. Before he closed the door behind him, he heard Jun asking.

“Do you think he is able to do it?”

“He has the power of words and he is truly in love. I believe in him,” was the magicians answer, giving Sho's confidence a light push.

~ ~ ~

Nino was lying in the big bed, covered with a blue blanket. To Sho's relief he looked normal again – no black skin, no claws or fangs anymore.

His eyes were closed and his breath steady, but his hands were twitching furiously.

Sho reached out for them, taking Nino's hands in his own, shocked by how cold they were. He rubbed them between his palms to warm them, but it didn't help much.

“Oh, Nino,” Sho sighed and sat down on the side of the bed.

The moon elf let out a short moan, but his eyes remained closed while his hands continued their movement.

“I am so sorry,” Sho began as he stroke a sweaty strain of hair out of Nino's face. “I behaved like an idiot!”

Sho was nearly expecting Nino to wake up and throw a bratty remark at him. He would have never let this chance pass in any other situation. However, there was still no sign from Nino that the moon elf had realized Sho's presence.

Sho closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was no use to prolong this any longer. He was determined to rescue Nino because he wanted and NEEDED him back.

“I totally misunderstood you,” Sho began. “My brain snapped after hearing your story. I couldn't think straight or even give you the chance to explain it to me properly.”

Sho pressed his lips together. He now knew why he had behaved that way.

“You know, I was crushed when I thought that you only stayed at the palace because of that light elf,” he went on in a low voice because it was still a bit embarrassing to him to say all this. However, in order to have a chance of rescuing Nino it was necessary and he would do it.

“Actually... I had hoped that I would be your reason to stay at our castle,” he finally said then, feeling the blush creeping into his cheeks.

“I know that we were faking this relationship in order to bring peace to our country, but the longer you stayed by my side, the more I got used to your presence until I didn't want to miss it anymore. You became a part of my life, Nino, and I don't want you to leave it.”

Sho had been looking at the patterns of the duvet while speaking, but when Nino moaned once more, he looked up to the moon elf's face. Drops of sweat had been forming on his forehead and he was breathing in and out through his mouth.

“Please, Nino, come back to me. I need you and I want to spend the next weeks, months and even years together with you,” Sho went on, pressing the moon elf's hands tightly.

Since Nino's behaviour had changed, Sho thought that his words might have reached him. Excited, hoping that the more active movement of the moon elf was a good sign, he went on talking.

“If you don't mind, we could stop pretending to be a couple and actually BE one. You always said my acting is bad and that I need more practise. I could stop acting and I assure you, I will be more authentically than before, because...”

Sho stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts. He knew that he would have to lay all his power into his words in order to bring Nino back, so he took one last deep breath and put all of his emotions into the next sentence.

“Because I have fallen in love with you!”

After finally voicing these words, Sho felt an exciting tingling going through his body, making him once more confident about his words. It had taken him quite some time to accept them, but now that he did, he knew that there were true.

Now he was hoping, that these words had the same effect on Nino.

He looked at the moon elf who was moving his lips as if he wanted to talk. However, his hand was still lying lifelessly in Sho's.

Again, panic rose in Sho. Did he fail?

Weren't his words, spoken honestly and full of his feelings, enough to reach Nino?

Did he screw up his only chance to bring the moon elf back? Would he never be able to speak to him again, never see the soft sparkling in his eyes before he would get teased? Would he never get the chance to kiss those lips anymore?

Sho felt the tears, that he had been holding back the whole time in order to to be able to speak properly, finally forming in his eyes before they were running down his cheeks. He simply couldn't accept the fact that Nino was lost and would never come back.

With a tearful voice Sho tried again.

“Please, Nino, I am so sorry. Can you forgive me? I shouldn't have behaved like that. I promise you, this will never happen again. I will never leave your side anymore, and I will cherish you forever. Just please, come back to me. I need you and I-”

“Please, stop making such a ruckus, my head hurts like hell,” a croaked voice interrupted Sho.

The light elf tried to focus on Nino again and through his tears he could see that the moon elf had opened his eyes and was looking at him.

“Nino,” he whispered. “You came back!”

Relief spread through Sho's body while he wiped the tears from his eyes with an embarrassed smile. He had no idea how Nino would react to his words, but right now, it didn't matter anyway. Nino was back and no matter if he would tell Sho to get out of his life now, or ask him to stay, the light elf only felt happiness about Nino's comeback.

“Yeah, I came back,” Nino replied, his voice still weak.

“So my words did reach you,” Sho concluded.

“There was no way to ignore them. They were so powerful that each of it hit me dead-on,” the moon elf gave back and even managed to sound slightly mocking.

Sho scratched the back of his head and chuckled embarrassed.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized. He might have overdone it a bit, but he was scared out of his mind that he would lose Nino if he wouldn't give his utmost best.

“For what you've said?” Nino wanted to know and fixated on Sho with his eyes that had turned back to their warm, brown colour.

“No!” Sho quickly made clear. “I am sorry that I used too much power. I am not sorry for what I said. I meant every word, I said.”

Sho was looking back at Nino. He wanted to clear every misunderstanding they might have and make sure Nino knew about his feelings that he had been denying over the past weeks.

“That's good then,” the moon elf said and a small smile spread over his still pale face. “Because they were the light that guided me back to you.”

Sho gulped at the hidden implication of the moon elf's words. Ohno and Jun had been right then. HE had been Nino's only reason to come back to this world.

“I am so glad you're back,” Sho said once again and stroke over Nino's cheek in a caring way.

“Because you were asking me to do so,” the moon elf replied and his former mocking tone had disappeared. Tears were also starting to form in his eyes that Sho gently brushed away with his thumb.

“I will never allow you to leave my side again,” the light elf made very clear and leaned over Nino, their faces close to each other.

“I told you once that I will make sure we'll spend a lot of time together,” Nino reminded Sho who grinned before he decided to shut the moon elf's pretty mouth with his own.

~ ~ ~

Nino and Sho stayed at Ohno and Jun's hut for three days.

After Nino woke up, the magician had declared him as out of danger, but advised him to stay in bed since the fight against the darkness had cost quite a lot of energy, and he was still weak.

Sho, as promised, did not vanish from Nino's side, asking the moon elf every five minutes if he was alright, until the moon elf kicked him out to actually get some real rest.

Jun then gave him a lecture about “freedom in a relationship” with Sho taking notes eagerly, and causing Ohno to crack up at the scene.

Nino had a long talk with the magician concerning the reason of his life-threatening attack. They came to the conclusion that Nino needed to free himself from his loss, or he would be surrounded by darkness again when he let his guard down.

Nino agreed, eventually. He wanted to leave those times that he had spent in darkness behind, especially since from now on he had the successor of the light elves by his side – his main reason to stay in this world.

The four men worked out a plan and in the morning after the third night at the magician's hut, Nino and Sho were saddling Taro to move on with their journey. They wanted to reach the moon elves' castle soon since they were already way behind schedule.

When they were done, they thanked Ohno for the umpteenth time, but the magician only waved it off as he had done so all the other times. He said that it was his pleasure to help, so that Sho and Nino would be able to restore the balance again.

Nino and Sho bowed deeply in front of him one last time before both climbed onto Taro's back. The horse seemed to be happy to move on and didn't mind the second person on his back at all.

“Jun will show you the way,” Ohno informed them and the two realized that Jun had taken his animalistic form again and was looking at them from a high branch in the big oak next to Ohno's hut.

“Thank you,” Nino said one last time, knowing that these simple words were more meaningful to the magician than a long speech.

Ohno smiled once more before Jun, the eagle, swung himself into the air, slowly disappearing between the trees so that Nino had to order Taro to not loose sight of Jun.

Nino watched the magician getting smaller until he could not be seen anymore while Sho was guiding Taro through the woods.

The moon elf owed his life to Ohno and although he was reluctant first to come back to this world, he was thankful that the magician did not give up on him and forced him into a place between the words where Sho then was able to reach him.

There was probably nothing that would show his thankfulness properly, but Nino knew that the magician didn't need that. He seemed to be happy that he managed to save him and that seemed to be all that counted for him.

Nino was glad that people like Ohno still existed, and decided to take this second chance he was given now to push the darkness out of his heart once and for all, although this would become really hard.

He felt Sho tightening his arms around him. The light elf was sitting behind him and nuzzled his nose into Nino's hair.

A wave of warmth floated through Nino's body upon the gentle gesture and he leaned back against Sho, knowing that the man behind him would give him all the strength he would need now.

They followed the eagle for about an hour before Nino finally started to recognize their surroundings. They were close to the deserted hut of his friend and the moon elf felt himself getting stiff and nervous.

Ever since that incident he hadn't set a single foot into the woods. He didn't want to be taken back to the place where everything had happened, because it would cause him too much pain.

However, in order to win against the darkness, he needed to go back and come to terms with the past, so here he was to fight his fears.

Sho had realized the change of the moon elf as well and was now pressing Nino closer, kissing his temples while he murmured sweet, calming words into his ear.

Of course, the light elf had a comforting effect on Nino, who knew thatSho was working his magic. However, that was exactly what he needed right now, so he laid his hand over Sho's, stroking it softly to indicate that he was alright.

Jun stopped at a large clearing, eventually.

“I know where we are,” Nino whispered and Sho hummed approvingly.

The eagle called out one last time before he spiralled back into the sky, leaving the two elves alone.

“I liked him,” Nino stated, looking after the bird.

“His big mouth could compete with yours,” Sho grumbled, causing Nino to laugh.

“But he made you understand your feelings for me, so I am eternally grateful to him,” he said and turned around to look into the light elf's face.

“I would have realized them by myself,” Sho defended himself but Nino just laughed.

“Who knows how long that would have taken,” he mocked Sho, but blew a kiss on his cheek at the same time.

Then, he got serious again. He was on a mission, and it was essential that he would be successful. The faster he'd start, the quicker he'd have gotten over with it. Therefore, Nino slipped out of Sho's arms and got down form his horse, immediately followed by the light elf.

“It's just behind these trees,” Nino stated, taking a deep breath before he walked into said direction. He could hear Sho following him on his heels, and was grateful to have him by his side.

After a few minutes, they could see the abandoned little house, that had been the home of Nino's friend.

Immediately, the moon elf was overrun by several memories at once. All the hours, days, weeks he had spent at this place were rushing by his inner eye and immediately, the pain in his heart was back.

These memories were happy, but Nino was crushed by the realization that they would never come back.

Suddenly, he felt arms being wrapped around him, pressing him gently against a strong chest. He buried his face in Sho's arms and cried over his loss once again.

The light elf let him be, holding him tight while he stroke over Nino's hair softly.

It took Nino a few minutes to calm down until he was only sniffling into Sho's shirt.

“I want him back,” Nino said after his voice was finally working again.

“I know,” Sho gave back, kissing Nino's head. “But this is impossible.”

“I don't care,” the moon elf replied stubbornly. “Why has he been taken from me? I simply cannot accept this.”

Again, tears flew down Nino's cheeks, but Sho quickly caught them.

“You cannot change it anymore,” the light elf reminded him (not that it was needed anyway) and Nino felt anger bubbling up. Of course he knew all this.

It had been a stupid idea to come to this place. Ohno said that Nino would have the best chances to beat the darkness once and for all here, but the moon elf didn't see any sense in it. His whole heart was aching now and he felt as if a hole he had managed to close with a lot of effort had been torn open once again. So basically, he felt even worse than before.

“I know that very well, Sho,” Nino said in an icy tone. “I would change it if I could, though!”

The light elf felt his partner stiffen for a moment.

“I rather wish to believe you wouldn't,” Sho gave back, his voice only a whisper.

“What do you mean?”

Nino finally looked up into Sho's eyes that looked back at him with a mixture of worry and hope.

“I am pretty sure that I know who the light elf is that was rescued by your friend. He is indeed working in the royal guard,” the light elf began and Nino listened to him carefully. “He once told me about a man who gave his life for his and that he was eternally thankful to him.”

Nino wasn't sure why Sho was telling him this now, but he continued to listen to the light elf's talk.

“The task of the royal guard is to make sure that nothing happens to the royal family. We all rely on them in dangerous situations and as of now they royal guard has never failed to protect us.”

Again, Nino knew all of this. It wasn't really necessary for Sho to tell him.

“As they did that one day when I was nearly killed!”

The moon elf gasped. Sho hadn't told him about this before, so he didn't know that the light prince's life had been in danger once.

“What happened?” he asked, nearly scared to listen to the answer, but Sho was standing right in front of him, holding him tight, so he didn't need to worry.

“We were exploring a new territory and found a cave. In search of minerals, we entered it. It was a big cave and soon we found a little path leading us away from the entrance hall. We entered it carefully,” Sho began his report and Nino held his breath. Even he knew that unexplored caves were crazily dangerous.

“After a while we entered another big cave. When we looked up, we couldn't believe our eyes. Lots of sparkling minerals were covering the ceiling. It looked like the sky at night.”

Nino smiled. He could imagine the cave very well and would have loved to see it in person.

“Of course, we wanted to take some of them with us. Since the ceiling wasn't really high, one of my men climbed onto another one's shoulders and managed to break off a few of these crystals. However, this caused the ceiling to start vibrating.”

Nino gasped and held onto Sho even tighter than before.

“Above me, a really big and sharp crystal broke loose. I hadn't realized it, but one of my guards pushed me away before it could hit me. When I saw the size of the crystal, my heart dropped and I couldn't thank the man enough. It could have killed me.”

Sho looked at Nino with a warm expression on his face.

“That man was the light elf your friend rescued back then. If he wouldn't have been there with me in that cave, I wouldn't be here with you right now, either.”

The realization hit Nino like a bullet. All of his beliefs were suddenly crumbling to pieces.

He had always thought that the death of his friend had been completely useless and had blamed the light elf for not listening to them, causing the whole situation. However, now he was right there in Sho's arms, which would not even be possible, if his friend had not died for that young light elf back then.

 

Sho stayed silent and gave Nino the time to fully grasp the meaning of what he had just told him. However, he kept the moon elf in his arms in order to reassure him of his presence.

“Do you...,” Nino finally said after a few minutes. “Do you think he knew?”

Sho took a deep breath and hummed thoughtfully.

“Maybe he had a hunch that his dead wouldn't be meaningless,” he finally voiced his thoughts and stroke over Nino's back who blinked away the new formed tears.

However, this time, they weren't tears of pain, hate or cravings for revenge. He was still missing his friend and he wanted to thank him for what he did for his sake – knowingly or not.

New feelings of love and thankfulness replaced the negative emotions he had carried in his heart the last years and Nino felt his tears flowing.

“Would you mind leaving me alone for a moment?” he finally asked Sho who examined him closely. He must have decided that the moon elf looked as if he'd be able to stay by himself, so Sho just nodded and with a soft kiss on Nino's forehead, he turned and walked back to the waiting Taro.

Nino went over to the little bench that was still standing in front of the hut and sat down. He began to pick flowers, gathering them to a little bouquet.

He leaned onto the wooden walls of the hut behind him. The sun was shining through the treetops, warming his face and drying his tears.

Again, memories of the days he had spent with his friend were floating through Nino's mind, but this time, they weren't painted in grey colours, but bright ones, making it look more real and less distant.

Nino let them pass through one by one, finally being able to remember the happiness he had felt at that time. He was thankful to have been able to spend his time with such a great friend who, even when he was about to lose his life, never thought about himself but the people around him, first.

“Thank you,” Nino whispered, wiping the last tear out of his face.

Determined, he stood up. He didn't turn around and walked straight into the direction where Sho was waiting for him.

They would finally continue their trip to the kingdom of the moon elves. However, when they would arrive they wouldn't be a fake couple anymore.

When Nino was gone, the sunrays falling into the clearing were still bathing the hut in its golden light, giving it a magical touch. A little flower bouquet was lying on the bench in front of it, its colours bright and lively.

~ ~ ~

Sho was standing next to Nino, holding back from reaching out for his lover's hand. Right now he should concentrate on the ceremony, the most important part of the unity festival. However, Sho's thoughts weren't with his father and father-in-law but with the moon elves' successor.

Nino was looking extremely fine in his traditional clothes, his bow over his shoulder. Weapons had always been part of the elves so it was only normal that their traditional outfit included them although these days they were only accessories.

Sho wondered why he never had realized how well Nino fitted these black trousers with the dark blue overcoat that was decorated with several silver spots, indicating the nightly sky. The moon elves' crest was painted on his black vest, right above his heart...

… that he had given to Sho of his own free will.

The light elf still couldn't believe his luck. Nino was his now. They weren't a fake couple anymore, their feelings were real and it was a hundred times better than what they had before when they were only forced to act like a couple.

After they left the forest that had changed their life dramatically two weeks ago, they made their way straight to the castle of the moon elves. There, they were finally able to enjoy their time as a pair, eager to explore the depths of a real relationship.

Nino was more relaxed after their visit at his friend's hut and Sho couldn't believe that fate had already meddled with their life long before the whole fake relationship had begun. However, now he was sure that they were meant to be and after voicing his thoughts to Nino, the moon elf had agreed immediately.

Their days at the moon elves' royal court were relaxing and Nino showed his partner his favourite spots in and around the castle. Sho was overly excited to get to know more about Nino's former life and was eager to remember every place and how it was connected to the moon elf.

Nino was laughing about Sho's excitement, but his face showed how happy he was that his lover showed so much interest.

Sho worked his way easily into his future mother-in-law's heart who always had tears in her eyes when she saw how well Nino and Sho were getting along. Also, Nino's father, the king of the moon elves, was delighted to have Sho as a guest in his home. They would discuss their political situation eagerly (while Nino would simply sit on Sho's lap, a book in his hands).

The weeks until the unity festival flew by and soon the light elves had arrived. Sho was standing among the moon elves when he welcomed his family. He was glad to see them again, although he felt like hitting Masaki who only needed one look at Nino and Sho to know what happened and mocked his brother about it.

It was the first time that Sho enjoyed the unity festival to the fullest because everybody he loved was there - his family, his friends, and Nino!

Also, this time, he he had been truly looking forward to the ceremony at the last day of the festival. Before, he dreaded the part when he and Nino had to exchange the sceptre.

Especially last time, during the spring equinox, when everybody assumed that they were a couple, the ceremony felt like hell for Sho, having to listen to all the whispering and his mother's happy sobbing to their lie.

If he had known back then that half a year later he would be happy to be by Nino's side, it would have saved them a lot of trouble (especially Nino).

When the two kings walked back over the water, the sceptre in their hands, Sho finally looked at Nino, only to be greeted with his big smile.

With a happy tingling in his body, Sho forced himself to concentrate on the kings as they finally reached their waiting sons. Their handed Sho the sceptre who turned to Nino.

Solemnly, he offered Nino the sceptre who took it with a serious expression, his hands lingering on Sho's for longer than necessary.

When the prince of the moon elves finally held the sceptre up high, the crowd cheered. The two princes stepped close together so that their fathers could join them at their left and right side.

“The sceptre has been handed over to the moon elves who will take care of it for the next half a year,” Sho's father began to speak.

“We will make sure nothing happens to it before we will bring it back to you,” the king of the moon elves went on.

“The circle will go on and on...,” Sho continued.

“Light elves and moon elves joining their forces...,” Nino said.

“To bring love, happiness and peace to our folks,” all four said, their voices united.

Although they said this many times before, Sho had never realized the depth of these words. However, today, he was able fully comprehend their meaning and it nearly caused him to start crying.

“Get a grip of yourself,” Nino hissed, having realized the state his partner was in already.

Sho took a deep breath and the pressure behind his eyes vanished, the warmth in his heart though, stayed.

“The last half a year brought less fights between light elves and moon elves. We hope we can reduce the conflicts in the future even more, until they will disappear eventually,” the king of the moon elves added, directing at the crowd.

“One of the main reasons of this sudden decline of disputes between the two folks is standing between us,” Sho's father went on.

“The love of our sons, that didn't care about any difference in race, caused a rethinking in our society. Many took them as an example that it IS possible to live together with someone from a different folk,” Nino's father explained the turn of events.

“Many started to try living together in harmony and realized that it isn't that hard if you're only willing to try,” the king of the light elves continued. “We are very grateful to our sons to make something possible that we haven't managed to accomplish in the past years.”

Sho's father looked softly at the couple next to him.

“We hope,” the moon elves' king turned towards the two princes as well, “that you will continue to be an example for our folks and one day, will lead this country to eternal peace.”

“Your love represents the bond between moon elves and light elves and we wish for it to become as strong as yours,” Sho's dad said with a gentle smile.

From the crowd came a loud sob and Sho could see his brother and his mother holding onto each other while their cheeks were wet from tears. Satomi shrugged apologetically before she took care of her emotional husband.

Keiko and Toma were showing their uncle a thumbs-up and Nino's mother was sniffing into her handkerchief.

With a grin, Sho turned towards Nino who return the smile.

They linked their hands before they looked at the crowd.

“We will guide this country to peace and happiness,” Sho said determined.

“Together,” Nino added in the same serious tone.

“Forever!”


End file.
